THE    CENTURY  BIBLE    HANDBOOKS 

The  Apocryphal  Books 

PROF  H.  T.  ANDREWS 


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BS    417     .C46    V.3 

Andrews,  Herbert  Tom,  1864- 

1928. 
The  apocryphal  books  of  the 

Old  &  New  Testament 


mf.,^ 


CENTURY  BIBLE  HANDBOOKS 

General  EpiroR 
Principal  WALTER  F.  ADENEY,  M.A.,  D.D. 


APOCRYPHAL  BOOKS  OF  THE 
OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT 


THE  APOCRYPHAL  BOOKS 

OF  THE  OLD  &  NEW 

TESTAMENT 


*     n 


BY 


DEC  12  1910     = 


REV.  H.  T.  ANDREWS,  B.A. 

PROFESSOR   OF   NEW   TESTAMENT   EXEGESIS   AND   CRITICISM 
NEW   COLLEGE,    LONDON 


HODDER   AND   STOUGHTON 

NEW   YORK 

1909 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.    THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA — INTRODUC- 
TION            .......  I 

II.    THE    APOCRYPHA    PROPER         ....  7 

III.  THE    HISTORICAL    BOOKS           .            .            o            .  I4 

IV.  THE    DIDACTIC    BOOKS    .            c            .             .            .  30 
V.    THE  RELIGIOUS  ROMANCES      .             .            c             .  44 

VI.    PROPHETIC    WRITINGS     .             .            .             .  5^ 
VII.    THE    WIDER    APOCRYPHA            .             c             =             .69 

VIII.    APOCALYPTIC    LITERATURE      .             .            o            .  74 

IX.    APOCALYPTIC    LITERATURE    {cOfltinued)    .            .  89 

X.    OTHER    APOCRYPHAL    LITERATURE              .             •  I05 

XI.    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    APOCRYPHA             .             .  I20 
XII.    NON-CANONICAL     BOOKS    WHICH    WERE     USED 

AS    SCRIPTURE    BY    THE    EARLY    CHURCH        .  1 26 

XIII.  THE    APOCRYPHAL    GOSPELS    ....  I4I 

XIV.  THE    APOCRYPHAL    GOSPELS    {continued)              .  1 55 
XV.    APOCRYPHAL    ACTS,    EPISTLES,    ETC.            .             -165 

INDEX 180 


APOCRYPHAL  BOOKS  OF  THE 
OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT 

CHAPTER   I 

THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA- 
INTRODUCTION 

THE  PRESENT-DAY  VALUE  OF 
THE  APOCRYPHA 

The  first  question  which  naturally  suggests  itself  in 
approaching  the  study  of  Jewish  Apocryphal  literature 
is,  Why  should  we  trouble  about  the  Apocrypha  at  all  ? 
What  value  has  the  Apocrypha  for  us  to-day  ?  Im- 
mersed as  we  are  in  theological  problems  of  the  first 
importance,  why  should  we  devote  time  and  strength  to 
the  study  of  books  which  have  been  unanimously  re- 
jected by  the  whole  of  Protestant  Christendom  ? 

This  question  might  be  answered  in  various  ways. 

There  are  many  grounds  upon  which  the  Apocrypha 
can  lay  claim  to  our  interest. 

I.  We  must  remember  that  up  to  the  time  of  the 
Reformation  the  Apocrypha  formed  an  integral  part  of 
the  Christian  Bible,  It  is  true  that  many  of  the  Chris- 
tian Fathers  drew  a  distinction  between  the   Apocrypha 

A 


2        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

and  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  after  the  fifth 
century  the  distinction  was  almost  universally  forgotten, 
and  for  a  thousand  years  the  Apocrypha  held  a  well- 
nigh  unchallenged  place  in  Holy  Writ.  The  Council  of 
Trent  definitely  decreed  that  it  was  of  equal  authority 
with  the  other  books  of  the  Bible,  and  this  position  is  still 
maintained  by  Roman  Catholics  to-day.  Even  after  the 
Reformation  the  Apocrypha  still  held  a  high  place  in 
the  affections  of  a  large  number  of  Protestants,  though  it 
was  assigned  a  subordinate  position  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  other  books  of  Scripture.  The  sixth  article  of  the 
English  Church,  for  instance,  defined  the  position  of  the 
Apocrypha  thus  :  "  And  the  other  books  (as  Jerome  saith) 
the  Church  doth  read  for  example  of  life  and  instruction 
of  manners ;  but  yet  doth  it  not  apply  them  to  establish 
any  doctrine."  It  was  not  till  1827  that  English  Bibles 
began  to  be  commonly  printed  wdthout  the  Apocrypha. 
The  Apocrypha,  therefore,  has  played  no  insignificant  part 
in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  For  more  than 
half  the  time,  during  which  Christianity  has  been  in  ex- 
istence, it  was  regarded  as  an  integral  part  of  Scripture, 
and  during  the  other  half  it  has  exercised  an  influence  only 
second  to  that  of  the  inspired  books  themselves.  For 
this  reason  alone,  no  student  of  Church  History  or  Chris- 
tian Doctrine  can  afford  to  neglect  the  Apocrypha.  We 
are  bound  to  recognise  the  force  which  it  has  exercised  in 
shaping  Christian  thought  and  moulding  Christian  char- 


OLD  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA  3 

acter.  And  though  the  question  of  the  Canon  has  beeft  closed 
and  is  not  likely  to  be  reopened,  the  Apocrypha,  as  I  shall 
hope  to  show  presently,  has  still  an  important  role  to  play 
in  the  work  of  theological  reconstruction,  which  is  the 
immediate  task  that  lies  before  the  Church. 

2.  The  Apocrypha  has  claims  upon  our  interest  on 
account  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  some  of  its  books. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  if  it  were  possible  for 
us  to  revise  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  very  many 
people  would  prefer  to  substitute  Ecclesiasticus  for 
Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Book  of  Wisdom  for  the  Song  of 
Solomon.  Some  might  even,  like  Josephus,  consider 
I.  Esdras  an  improvement  on  our  Books  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah,  while  the  religious  tone  of  Judith  is  un- 
doubtedly higher  than  that  of  Esther.  The  spiritual 
value  of  much  of  the  Apocrypha  has  been  recognised  in 
the  Church  from  the  very  first.  Traces  of  its  influence 
are  obvious  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament.  Some 
of  Paul's  arguments  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  were 
undoubtedly  inspired  by  the  Book  of  Wisdom,  and 
the  language  in  which  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  describes  Christ  (chap.  i.  1-3)  was  borrowed 
from  the  same  source.  The  Fathers  of  the  Church 
always  recognised  the  worth  of  the  Apocrypha,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  treated  it  as  Scripture.  When  Augustine, 
towards  the  end  of  his  life,  made  an  anthology  of  the 
passages    of  Scripture   which    he    considered    specially 


4        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

helpful  for  the  culture  of  the  spiritual  life,  the  quota- 
tions from  Ecclesiasticus  occupied  no  less  than  an  eighth 
of  the  book  (36  pages  out  of  285  in  Wehlrich's  edition 
of  the  "  Speculum  "),  twice  as  much  space  as  was  given 
to  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew.  Even  though  we  may 
think  that  Augustine  attaches  too  much  weight  to 
Ecclesiasticus,  it  is  impossible  to  dispute  the  proposition 
that  the  best  books  of  the  Apocrypha  are  undoubtedly 
worth  reading  for  their  own  sakes,  and  contain  much 
that  is  profitable  and  stimulating. 

3.  The  Apocrypha  is  also  of  immense  importance 
from  a  historical  point  of  view.  Between  the  latest  book 
of  the  Old  Testament  (the  Book  of  Daniel,  which  dates 
from  about  168  B.C.)  and  the  birth  of  Christ,  there  is  a 
a  gap  of  more  than  a  century  and  a  half.  During  this 
period,  radical  changes  took  place  both  in  the  political 
and  religious  condition  of  the  Jewish  people.  Why 
should  our  interest  in  the  history  of  Israel  cease  with 
Daniel?  Why  should  we  ignore  the  interval  between 
the  two  Testaments?  If  the  story  of  the  Maccab^ean 
struggle  for  freedom  does  not  appeal  to  us,  the  history 
of  the  development  of  Jewish  theology  ought  surely  to 
command  our  attention.  God's  revelation  of  Himself 
to  Israel  did  not  end  with  Ezra.  It  is  impossible  to 
think  of  Him  as  silent  for  four  hundred,  or  even  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  There  was  no  hiatus  in  the 
Divine  preparation  for  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.     The 


OLD  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA  5 

religious  and  political  movements  during  this  inter- 
mediate period  profoundly  affected  the  life  and  thought 
of  the  infant  Church.  For  this  reason  alone,  if  for  no 
other,  the  Apocrypha  is  of  priceless  value  to  us,  since  it 
is  the  source  from  which  we  derive  most  of  our  know- 
ledge of  Jewish  history  during  the  years  that  separate 
the  Old  Testament  from  the  New. 

4.  A  knowledge  of  Apocryphal  literature  is  absolutely 
indispensable  for  the  sciefitific  study  of  the  Neiu  Testa- 
juent.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  New  Testament 
criticism  has  been  simply  revolutionised  during  the  last 
ten  years,  and  the  revolution  has  largely  been  produced 
by  the  publication  of  the  Jewish  Apocalyptic  writings. 
New  problems  have  been  raised  which  never  before  ex- 
cited serious  attention.  We  cannot,  for  instance,  read 
the  Epistles  of  Paul  to-day  without  asking  questions  which 
never  troubled  theologians  in  the  past.  It  is  impossible 
for  us  to  take  Paul's  statements  just  as  we  find  them. 
We  are  bound  to  ask.  What  is  the  source  from  which  he 
derived  his  ideas  ?  How  much  of  his  theology,  for  in- 
stance, is  simply  Judaism  carried  over  into  Christianity  ? 
To  what  extent  is  his  interpretation  of  Christianity 
coloured  by  his  Pharisaic  training  ?  What  is  the  origin 
of  the  thought-forms  in  which  he  clothes  his  Christian 
experience  ?  Whence  did  he  obtain  the  categories  which 
he  uses  in  explaining  the  Person  of  Christ  or  the 
Doctrine   of  the   Atonement?     What  is  the  validity  of 


6        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

these  ideas  for  modern  theology  ?  Questions  Uke  these, 
and  many  other  similar  problems  which  confront  us  in 
New  Testament  criticism  to-day,  can  only  be  answered 
by  the  scientific  study  of  Apocryphal  literature.  As 
Sandayand  Headlamsayin  their  Commentary  on  Romans, 
"  It  is  by  a  continuous  and  careful  study  of  such  works 
that  any  advance  in  the  exegesis  of  the  New  Testament 
will  be  possible."  Two  epoch-making  books  have  already 
appeared  which  illustrate  the  tremendous  importance  of 
the  new  method.  Dr.  Charles'  "  Eschatology "  throws 
a  flood  of  light  on  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  the  Future 
Life ;  and  Tennant's  "  Sources  of  the  Doctrine  of  Ori- 
ginal Sin  "  has  proved  conclusively  the  influence  of  the 
Apocrypha  on  this  particular  aspect  of  Pauline  theology. 
These  books  are  only  the  pioneers  of  a  new  principle  of 
criticism  which  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  applied  to  the 
whole  range  of  New  Testament  theology.  In  this  work, 
the  effects  of  which  upon  the  theology  of  the  future  can 
scarcely  be  foreseen  at  present,  the  Apocrypha  is  destined 
to  exercise  an  enormous  influence.  It  may  be  said,  there- 
fore, that  a  knoivledge  of  Apocryphal  literature  is  even  more 
essential  for  the  study  of  the  New  Tesfa7?tent  tha?i  a  know- 
ledge of  the  Old  Testame?it  itself  The  present  handbook 
is  merely  an  attempt  to  give  an  account  of  the  literature, 
but  an  opportunity  has  been  taken,  wherever  it  was  pos- 
sible, of  pointing  out  the  value  of  each  particular  book 
for  the  student  of  the  New  Testament. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   APOCRYPHA   PROPER 

The  term  Apocrypha  in  its  technical  sense  has  been 
used  since  the  time  of  the  Reformation  to  describe  a 
collection  of  Jewish  books,  whose  claim  to  be  regarded 
as  part  of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  challenged  by 
the  Protestant  section  of  Christendom.  This  collection 
comprises  some  fourteen  works  of  varying  character  and 
value.     They  may  be  classified  as  follows  : — 

1.  Historical  Works. — I.  Esdras ;  I.  and  11.  Macca- 

bees. 

2.  Didactic  Works. — The  Wisdom  of  Solomon;  the 

Book  of  Sirach  (Ecclesiasticus). 

3.  Religious  Romances. — The    Book    of  Tobit;    the 

Book  of  Judith. 

4.  Prophetic  or  Apocalyptic    Works. — The    Book    of 

Baruch ;  IV.  Ezra  (sometimes  called  II.  Esdras). 

5.  Additions  to  the  Old  Testament. — The  addition  to 

the  Book  of  Esther;  the  Prayer  of  Manasseh; 
the  three  additions  to  Daniel,  viz.  {a)  The  Song 
of  the  Three  Holy  Children ;  {b)  The  Story  of 


8        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Susanna ;  {c)  The  Story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon. 
Most  of  these  additions  might  very  properly  be 
placed  in  the  class  of  Religious  Romances. 

What  is  the  Apocrypha? — The  Christian  Church 
in  modern  times  first  became  conscious  of  the  existence 
of  the  Apocrypha  at  the  Reformation,  though  individual 
scholars  and  theologians  had  of  course  always  known  of 
it  before.  Up  to  the  Reformation  the  Bible  in  common 
use  was  the  Latin  version  originally  made  by  Jerome, 
and  known  as  the  Vulgate.  When,  however,  Reuchlin 
reintroduced  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and 
Protestants  began  to  read  the  Hebrew  original  of  the 
Old  Testament,  the  discovery  was  made  that  the  Vulgate 
contained  many  more  books  than  the  Hebrew  Bible. 
The  name  Apocrypha  was  accordingly  given  to  those  books 
which  were  found  in  the  Vulgate  but  not  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible.  But  how  did  the  books  get  into  the  Vulgate? 
If  they  were  not  part  of  the  original  Hebrew,  whence 
did  Jerome  obtain  them  ?  The  answer  to  the  question 
is  simple.  The  Jews  in  the  early  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  had  two  versions  of  the  Old  Testament, 
one  the  original  Hebrew,  which  was  used  more  par- 
ticularly in  Palestine,  the  other  a  Greek  translation, 
called  the  Septuagint,  which  was  originally  made  at 
Alexandria  and  used  by  the  Greek-speaking  Jews  of  the 
Dispersion.    The  Greek  Bible,  like  the  Vulgate,  contains 


THE    APOCRYPHA    PROPER         9 

the  extra  books,  known  as  the  Apocrypha  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  IV.  Ezra),  which  are  not  found  in  the  Hebrew,, 
and  it  was  from  the  Greek  Bible  that  Jerome  intro- 
duced them  into; his  Latin  translation.  The  Apocrypha 
therefore  represents  the  difference  between  the  co?itents  of 
the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Septuagi7it plus  IV.  Ezra. 

The  Origin  of  the  Apocrypha. — The  statement 
that  the  Apocrypha  is  the  excess  of  the  contents  of  the 
Septuagint  over  the  Hebrew  Bible,  only  drives  the 
question  which  was  raised  about  the  Vulgate  a  stage 
further  back.  We  have  still  to  ask  how  the  Apocrypha 
got  into  the  Septuagint  when  it  is  absent  from  the 
Hebrew.  To  answer  this  question  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  the  Old  Testament 
Canon.  It  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  details,  or  discuss 
the  debatable  points  connected  with  this  important  sub- 
ject. All  that  can  be  done  here,  is  simply  to  state  the 
main  conclusions  with  regard  to  which  there  is  general 
agreement  amongst  modern  scholars.  How,  then,  was 
the  Old  Testament  formed  ?  Obviously  it  did  not  drop 
from  the  skies,  and  equally  obviously  its  books  were 
not  composed  at  the  same  time.  The  Old  Testament 
is  a  collection  of  books  written  by  many  different 
people  over  a  period  of  several  centuries.  How  were 
the  books  collected  together.?  It  is  certain  now  that 
the  collection  was  not  made  at  any  one  particular  point 
in  the  history  of  Israel,   though  it  may  have  received 


lo      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

official  sanction  at  a  particular  date.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment was  formed  very  gradually,  and  over  five  hundred 
years  elapsed  between  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the 
process.  The  chief  points  in  the  evolution  of  the 
Canon  were  as  follows :  (i)  In  its  earliest  form  the  Old 
Testament  consisted  merely  of  "  the  Law."  The  word 
"  Law,"  however,  in  this  connection  is  used  in  a  broad 
sense,  and  covers  the  six  books  of  the  Hexateuch. 
These  books  were  recognised  as  authoritative  about 
444  B.C.  or  perhaps  in  their  present  form  a  little  later. 
If  the  Bible  of  400  b.c.  had  been  stereotyped,  it  would 
thus  have  ended  with  the  Book  of  Joshua.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  Samaritan  Old  Testament  only  contained  the 
Pentateuch.  (2)  In  the  second  stage,  a  further  collec- 
tion, consisting  of  the  prophetical  writings,  and  including 
the  historical  books  {i.e.  Judges,  1.  and  II.  Samuel, 
I.  and  11.  Kings),  was  added  to  the  Canon.  When 
exactly  this  addition  was  made  cannot  be  precisely 
determined,  but  we  know  that  it  must  be  placed  some- 
where between  400  and  200  B.C.  The  Old  Testament 
of  200  B.C.  therefore  consisted  of  the  Pentateuch,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Historical  Books.  (3)  A  final  addition, 
consisting  of  the  Hagiographa,  and  comprising  all  the 
books  not  found  in  the  two  other  sections,  was  made 
between  200  b.c.  and  a.d.  100,  and  the  total  collection 
received  official  recognition  at  the  Jewish  Synod  of 
Jamnia  (about  a.d.  90),  so  that  the  Old  Testament,  as 


THE    APOCRYPHA    PROPER       ii 

we  know  it  in  its  complete  form,  was  finally  adopted  as 
the  Bible  of  the  Jewish  people  about  the  end  of  the  first 
century  of  our  era.  Here  the  process  stopped  as  far  as 
Palestine  was  concerned.  If  we  ask  why  a  development 
which  had  been  going  on  for  five  hundred  years  should 
have  been  suddenly  arrested,  the  only  satisfactory  ex- 
planation that  we  can  find  is  that  it  was  probably  due  to 
the  revolutionary  change  in  the  character  of  Judaism 
which  resulted  from  the  destruction  of  the  Temple. 
Before  a.d.  70  the  Temple  had  been  the  centre  and  soul 
of  the  Jewish  religion.  When  its  Temple  was  destroyed, 
it  had  to  find  a  new  centre,  and  it  turned  to  its  sacred 
writings.  The  first  problem  it  had  to  settle  was  the 
question  as  to  what  was  to  be  regarded  as  sacred,  and 
what  not.  The  decision  of  this  question  was  of  vital 
importance.  Hence  the  Synod  of  Jamnia.  From  this 
point  onwards,  the  Bible  took  the  place  of  the  Temple, 
and  Judaism  became  the  religion  of  a  book.  But  though 
the  process  stopped  in  Palestine,  it  did  not  stop  in 
Alexandria.  The  Jews  of  Alexandria  still  went  on 
adding  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  books  which 
they  added  consisted  of  the  writings  which  we  now  call 
"  the  Apocrypha."  We  owe  the  Apocrypha,  therefore, 
to  the  fact  that  the  process  of  the  evolution  of  the 
Old  Testament  was  arrested  at  an  earlier  stage  in 
Palestine  than  it  was  at  Alexandria. 

Reasons  why  the  Apocrypha  was  rejected. — The 


12      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

grounds  upon  which  the  Apocrypha  was  rejected  by 
Protestants  are  not  far  to  seek.  Protestantism  was 
the  religion  of  a  Book.  Its  seat  of  authority  was  the 
Bible.  The  Bible  was  to  it  what  the  Church  had 
hitherto  been  to  Christendom.  Its  doctrine  of  inspira- 
tion sharply  differentiated  the  Bible  from  all  other  litera- 
ture. It  was  absolutely  necessary,  therefore,  to  reject 
all  books  of  disputed  canonicity.  The  right  of  the 
Apocrypha  to  a  place  in  the  Bible  had  never  been 
universally  acknowledged.  It  had  no  place  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  It  was  with  great  reluctance  that 
Jerome  had  admitted  it  into  the  Vulgate.  Several  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  had  protested  against  its  use. 
In  the  face  of  this  divergence  of  opinion,  it  was  im- 
possible to  regard  the  Apocrypha  as  inspired  Scripture, 
and  no  book  of  doubtful  inspiration  could  have  any 
place  in  the  Protestant  Bible.  Besides  the  divergence 
of  opinion,  there  were  other  reasons  which  probably 
weighed  with  the  Protestants,  (a)  The  re-discovery  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  originals  had  created  a  revulsion 
of  feeling  against  the  Vulgate.  Some  of  the  renderings 
of  the  Vulgate  seemed  to  afford  unfair  support  to  the 
doctrines  of  Roman  Catholicism.  The  whole  version 
was  therefore  regarded  with  suspicion,  and  the  suspicion 
naturally  extended  to  the  Apocrypha,  {b)  The  Apocrypha 
contained  some  passages  which  conflicted  with  Protes- 
tant theology.     The  doctrines  of  the  intercession  of  the 


THE    APOCRYPHA    PROPER       13 

saints  and  of  prayers  for  the  dead  were  both  clearly 
taught  in  some  of  the  books.  Many  passages  in 
Ecclesiasticus  lent  support  to  the  Romanist  doctrine 
that  "salvation  is  of  works."  There  cannot  be  much 
doubt  that  theological  considerations  weighed  both  with 
Roman  Catholics  in  their  acceptance  of  the  Apocrypha 
and  with  Protestants  in  their  rejection  of  it.  Many  of 
the  old  objections  have  lost  their  weight  to-day.  The 
rigid  theory  of  inspiration  has  been  given  up.  Few 
would  now  deny  that  there  is  more  inspiration  in 
some  of  the  books  of  the  Apocrypha  than  there  is  in 
some  of  the  writings  included  in  the  Old  Testament. 
On  the  other  hand,  every  impartial  student  is  bound  to 
admit  that  the  general  spiritual  level  of  the  Apocrypha 
is  nothing  like  as  high  as  that  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  partly  for  this  reason,  and  partly  too  because  of  the 
grave  problems  that  would  be  raised  if  the  question  of 
the  Canon  were  reopened,  the  verdict,  which  was  passed 
on  the  Apocrypha  by  Protestantism  at  the  Reformation, 
is  not  likely  to  be  reversed. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE   HISTORICAL   BOOKS 

THE  FIRST   BOOK  OF   MACCABEES 

There  are  only  three  books  in  the  Apocrypha  proper 
which  can  be  termed  historical,  viz.  I.  and  II.  Maccabees 
and  I.  Esdras,  and  of  these  three  I.  Maccabees  is  by 
far  the  most  important.  Its  importance  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  our  chief  authority  for  one  of  the  most 
stirring  periods  in  Jewish  history.  From  it  we  derive 
our  most  trustworthy  account  of  the  heroic  struggle  for 
civil  and  religious  liberty  which  forms  almost  the  only 
brilliant  episode  in  the  dreary  centuries  that  separate 
the  epoch  of  the  great  prophets  from  the  time  of  Christ. 
As  Westcott  says,  "  History  offers  no  parallel  to  the 
undaunted  courage  with  which  the  Maccabaean  brothers 
dared  to  face  death,  one  by  one,  in  the  maintenance  of 
a  holy  cause.  The  result  was  worthy  of  the  sacrifice. 
The  Maccabees  inspired  a  subject  people  with  inde- 
pendence :  they  found  a  few  personal  followers  and  they 
left  a  nation." 

The    Contents    of    I.    Maccabees.  —  The    narrative 


I.    MACCABEES 


covers  a  period  of  forty  years  from  the  accession  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  in  175  B.C.  to  the  death  of  Simon 
in  135  B.C.,  and  gives  therefore  a  complete  picture  of 
the  struggle.  The  book  may  be  conveniently  divided 
into  five  sections,  (i)  The  cause  of  the  revolt  (chap.  i.). 
The  writer  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  attempt  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  in  conjunction  with  the  Hellenising 
party  in  Judaea,  to  abolish  the  Jewish  religion  and 
establish  paganism  in  its  stead.  A  Greek  gymnasium 
was  erected  in  Jerusalem ;  the  Temple  was  desecrated, 
and  became  the  scene  of  idolatrous  sacrifices  ;  a  terrible 
inquisition  was  instituted,  and  all  Jews  who  refused  to 
abandon  their  faith  were  put  to  death.  (2)  The  outbreak 
of  the  revo/t  {chsip.  ii.).  The  standard  of  revolt  was  raised 
at  Modin  by  Mattathias  and  his  five  sons,  who  gathered 
together  a  force  and  resisted  the  demands  of  Antiochus 
(167  B.C.).  Just  before  his  death,  which  occurrgd  in 
the  following  year,  Mattathias  charged  his  sons  "to  be 
zealous  for  the  law  and  give  their  lives  for  the  cove- 
nant." (3)  The  struggle  under  the  leadership  of  Judas 
(chaps,  iii.  i-ix.  22).  Judas  is  the  hero  of  the  book, 
and  the  writer  dwells  at  length  on  his  valorous  deeds 
during  the  five  years  (166-161)  of  his  captaincy.  In 
his  first  campaign  he  won  three  signal  victories,  the  first 
over  Apollonius,  the  second  over  Seron,  the  third  over 
a  large  army  specially  sent  from  Antioch  to  avenge  the 
previous  defeats  under  the  command   of  Nicanor  and 


i6      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Gorgias  (chaps,  iii.,  iv.).  In  the  following  year  he  was 
again  successful  against  a  still  larger  Syrian  army  under 
Lysias,  and  this  triumph  enabled  him  to  obtain  posses- 
sion of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  which  he  purified  and 
re-dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah  (chaps,  v.  and  vi.). 
The  victories  of  Judas,  and  the  difficulties  which  arose 
in  Syria  after  the  death  of  Antiochus,  compelled  Lysias 
to  abandon  the  policy  of  destroying  the  Jewish  religion, 
and  grant  the  Jews  religious  liberty.  Judas,  however, 
was  not  content  with  this  concession.  The  remainder 
of  his  life  was  devoted  to  the  attempt  to  secure  political 
independence  as  well  (chaps,  vii.-ix.).  (4)  The  leader- 
ship of  Jonathan  (chaps,  ix.  23-xii.  53),  which  lasted 
from  161  B.C.  to  143.  After  a  fruitless  guerilla  warfare, 
in  which  Jonathan  won  some  victories,  a  change  of 
fortune  took  place  through  a  civil  strife  in  Syria. 
Jonathan  was  made  High  Priest  in  153,  and  by  diplo- 
matic alliances  succeeded  in  maintaining  his  position 
for  ten  years.  (5)  The  leadership  of  Simon  (chaps,  xiii.- 
xvi.)  from  143-135  B.C.  Partly  by  success  in  war, 
partly  by  diplomacy,  Simon  consolidated  his  position 
and  secured  complete  independence  for  the  Jews.  His 
rule  was  characterised  by  many  administrative  reforms. 
In  135  B.C.  he  was  treacherously  murdered  by  his  son- 
in-law,  Ptolemy,  who  hoped  to  secure  the  position. 

Authorship   and   Date. — The   name   of   the   author 
of  I.  Maccabees  is  unknown.     It  is  certain,  however, 


I.    MACCABEES  17 

that  he  must  have  been  a  Palestinian  Jew.  This  is 
clearly  proved  (i)  by  the  fact  that,  as  we  know  from 
the  express  statements  of  Origen  and  Jerome,  the  book 
was  originally  written  in  Hebrew  or  Aramaic;  (2)  by 
the  author's  minute  acquaintance  with  the  geography 
and  topography  of  Palestine.  Many  scholars  think  that 
the  religious  tone  of  the  book  indicates  that  the  writer 
was  a  Sadducee.  The  date  cannot  be  fixed  with  pre- 
cision. The  book  must  have  been  written  before  the 
Roman  invasion  of  Palestine  in  63  B.C.,  because  other- 
wise the  writer's  attitude  to  the  Empire  must  have  been 
much  less  favourable  than  it  is  :  63  B.C.  is  therefore 
the  latest  possible  limit.  The  earliest  possible  date 
seems  to  be  fixed  by  the  reference  to  Hyrcanus  in 
chap.  xvi.  23.  The  statement,  "the  rest  of  the  acts  of 
John  .  .  .  are  written  in  the  chronicles  of  the  priest- 
hood," seems  to  imply  that  Hyrcanus  was  already  dead, 
and  that  an  account  of  his  life  had  been  written.  The 
death  of  Hyrcanus  occurred  in  105  B.C.  Consequently 
the  majority  of  modern  scholars  date  the  book  between 
ICO  and  80  B.C.  There  is,  however,  another  view.  Some 
scholars,  including  Wellhausen,  think  that  the  last  two 
chapters  did  not  form  part  of  the  original  book,  but  are 
a  later  addition.  If  this  be  so,  an  earlier  date  may  be 
adopted,  and  some  authorities  place  the  book  in  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  John  Hyrcanus,  between 
140  and  125  B.C. 


i8      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Characteristics  of  the  Book. — {a)  Its  historical  value. 
For  accuracy  and  trustworthiness  I.  Maccabees  com- 
pares very  favourably  with  most  historical  writings  of 
ancient  times.  It  is  not  entirely  free  from  mistakes. 
It  represents,  for  instance,  the  partition  of  Alexander's 
empire  as  having  been  made  by  himself  (chap.  i.  6),  and 
it  is  at  variance  with  the  statements  of  other  historians 
with  regard  to  the  date  of  the  murder  of  Antiochus  VI. 
chap.  xiv.  i).  No  historian,  however,  not  even  Thucy- 
dides,  is  absolutely  infallible,  and  such  errors  as  have 
been  discovered  in  the  book  belong  for  the  most  part 
to  extraneous  affairs^  and  do  not  affect  the  essence  of 
the  narrative,  {b)  Its  freedom  from  legendary  accretions. 
The  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  I.  Maccabees  is 
its  absolute  freedom  from  mythical  elements.  It  con- 
fines itself  to  the  sober  facts  of  history.  The  narrative 
contains  no  miracles,  no  portents,  no  supernatural  inter- 
ventions. In  this  respect  it  stands  almost  alone  among 
ancient  histories,  and  the  fact  is  all  the  more  wonderful 
when  we  remember  that  the  writer  was  dealing  with  a 
great  religious  movement,  which  must  have  afforded  no 
little  material  that  a  superstitious  imagination  might 
have  easily  developed  into  supernatural  events,  (c)  Its 
religious  tone.  One  of  the  most  striking  features  about 
I.  Maccabees  is  its  religious  reticence.  This  is  not 
due  to  scepticism  or  want  of  faith,  however.  There 
can  be  no  question  about  the  genuine  faith  and  religious 


I.    MACCABEES  19 

devotion  which  the  writer  exhibits  throughout  the  book. 
He  is  in  fullest  sympathy  with  the  aims  of  the  movement 
which  he  is  describing.  He  shows  the  greatest  zeal  for 
all  the  institutions  of  Judaism,  for  the  Law  and  the 
Ordinances,  for  the  Temple  and  for  the  Scriptures.  He 
refers  to  the  Divine  deliverances  of  Israel  in  the  past, 
and  is  confident  that  "  none  that  put  their  trust  in  Him 
shall  want  for  strength."  Yet  never  once,  from  beginning 
to  end  of  the  book,  according  to  the  true  text,  does  the 
term  "  God "  or  "  Lord "  occur.  The  writer  either 
describes  God  by  the  word  "  Heaven,"  or  leaves  the 
reader  to  supply  his  own  subject  to  the  verb.  The 
writer  evidently  belongs  to  a  school  of  thought  which 
had  lost  the  sense  of  the  nearness  of  God,  and  which  no 
longer  used  the  old  familiar  names.  To  it  God  had 
become  remote  and  far  away — in  fact,  little  more  than 
an  abstraction.  L  Maccabees  is  lacking,  too,  in  a  belief 
in  the  future  life.  There  is  no  hint  of  any  reward  or 
punishment,  or  even  of  any  existence  after  death.  It 
contains,  however,  an  adumbration,  at  any  rate,  of  the 
Messianic  hope.  Twice  the  writer  speaks  of  certain 
temporary  arrangements  which  have  been  made  and  are 
to  continue  "  till  the  prophet  comes "  (chaps,  iv.  46, 
xiv.  41). 


20      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

THE  SECOND   BOOK  OF  MACCABEES 

II.  Maccabees  presents  many  points  of  contrast  with 
I.  Maccabees.  It  is  widely  different  in  (a)  the  scope  of 
its  contents,  (^)  its  aim  and  purpose,  (c)  its  historical 
value,  (d)  its  religious  outlook. 

The  Contents  of  II.  Maccabees. — While  the  first 
book  of  Maccabees  covers  the  whole  period  from 
175  B.C.  to  135  B.C.,  the  scope  of  the  second  book  is 
much  more  limited.  It  begins  a  year  earlier,  but  only 
extends  to  the  death  of  Nicanor,  which  occurred  in 
161  B.C.  Thus  it  only  covers  fifteen  years,  and,  like 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  ends  without  recording  the 
death  of  its  hero.  The  first  seven  chapters  contain  new 
material ;  chaps,  viii.-xv.  run  parallel  to  I.  Maccabees 
i.-vii.  The  new  material  comprises  the  following  ele- 
ments :  (a)  two  prefatory  letters  from  the  Jews  of  Palestine 
to  their  brethren  in  Egypt  (chaps,  i.  i-ii.  18),  which,  how- 
ever, seem  to  be  a  later  addition  and  not  an  integral  part 
of  the  book ;  (d)  the  writer's  preface  describing  the  aim 
and  source  of  the  book  (chap.  ii.  19-32);  (c)  the 
attempt  of  Heliodorus  to  plunder  the  Temple  (chap,  iii.) ; 
{d)  the  intrigues  amongst  the  High  Priests  at  Jerusalem 
(chap,  iv.);  (e)  the  attack  on  the  Temple  by  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  (chap,  v.);  (/)  the  martyrdom  of  Eleazar 
and  the  seven  brethren  (chaps,  vi.,  vii.). 

The  Aim  of  the  Book. — The  interest  of  the  author 


11.    MACCABEES  21 

of  I.  Maccabees  is  purely  historical :  the  book  is  entirely 
free  from  any  ulterior  purpose,  and  is  intended  to  be 
an  unvarnished  record  of  facts.  The  case,  however,  is 
different  with  the  second  book.  The  writer  definitely 
states  that  his  object  was  to  write  for  the  pleasure  and 
profit  of  his  readers.  "  We  have  been  careful  that  they 
that  will  read  may  have  delight,  and  that  they  that  are 
desirous  to  commit  to  memory  might  have  ease,  and 
that  all  into  whose  hands  it  comes  might  have  profit " 
(chap.  ii.  25).  He  compares  himself  to  a  decorator 
putting  the  finishing  touches  on  the  ornamentation  of  a 
house  (chap.  v.  29).  The  writer's  idea  of  what  would 
be  profitable  to  his  readers  may  be  gathered  from  the 
general  tone  of  the  book.  His  purpose  is  "writ  large" 
on  almost  every  page.  He  is  always  striving  to  impress 
upon  the  Egyptian  Jews  that  they  were  part  and  parcel 
of  the  Jewish  race,  and  so  the  participants  in  the  glories 
of  the  Maccabaean  age.  His  great  ideal  is  the  unity  of 
Jewish  people.  Centrifugal  forces  were  at  work.  A 
temple  had  been  established  at  Leontopolis,  and  there 
was  a  danger  that  the  Diaspora  in  Egypt  would  be 
completely  dissevered  from  Palestinian  Judaism.  It  is 
against  this  spirit  that  the  author  of  II.  Maccabees  is 
protesting,  and  he  uses  the  events  of  the  Maccabaean 
struggle  to  exalt  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  and  to  urge 
the  necessity  for  keeping  the  Palestinian  festivals. 
The    book    might  be    described    as  a    tract    in    favour 


22      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

of  unity    based    on    the    events    of    the    Maccabaean 
war. 

Historical  Value. — H.  Maccabees  is  of  considerably 
less  historical  value  than  the  first  book,  for  :  {a)  Historical 
accuracy  and  chronological  order  are  subordinated  to 
the  religious  purpose  of  the  book.  The  festivals  of  the 
Dedication  and  of  Nicanor,  for  instance,  are  taken  out 
of  their  proper  place  in  the  narrative  for  dramatic  effect. 
There  are  many  discrepancies,  too,  between  the  state- 
ments of  the  two  books  on  points  of  detail  and  order, 
and  in  every  case  internal  evidence  favours  the  narrative 
of  I.  Maccabees,  {b)  The  writer  of  H.  Maccabees  has 
a  predilection  for  introducing  marvellous  and  super- 
natural incidents.  He  speaks  of  the  manifest  signs 
which  came  from  heaven  (chap.  ii.  21).  Amongst  the 
prodigies  related  in  the  book  may  be  mentioned  the 
great  apparition  of  the  terrible  rider  who  smote  Helio- 
dorus  (chap.  iii.  24-29),  the  apparition  of  the  horsemen 
fighting  in  the  air  (chap.  v.  2-4),  the  supernatural 
protection  given  to  Judas  on  the  battle-field  (chap.  x. 
29-31),  &c.  {c)  There  is  a  lack  of  true  historical  per- 
spective. Minor  events  often  receive  an  undue  emphasis, 
and  a  disproportionate  amount  of  space  is  allotted  to 
them. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
book  possesses  no  little  historical  value.  There  is 
much   in   it   that  we  have   to  discount.     No  one,  for 


11.    MACCABEES  23 

instance,  accepts  the  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  the 
seven  brethren  (chap,  vii.)  as  literal  history.  Neverthe- 
less, by  the  use  of  critical  methods,  it  is  possible  to 
extract  many  precious  grains  of  fact  from  the  husk  of 
fiction  which  overlays  the  narrative. 

Religious  Outlook. — The  dissimilarity  between  the 
two  books  is  most  obvious  when  we  come  to  the  ques- 
tion of  religious  tone.  If  the  first  book  can  be  said  to 
represent  the  Sadducean  standpoint,  the  second  is 
certainly  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Pharisees. 
There  is  no  reserve  or  reticence  about  the  writer  of 
II.  Maccabees.  He  is  always  obtruding  his  religious 
convictions  upon  his  readers.  He  never  misses  an 
opportunity  of  "  pointing  the  moral "  of  the  story.  The 
most  (interesting  feature  in  the  theology  of  the  book  is 
the  emphasis  which  it  lays  upon  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  There  is  no  other  Pre-Christian  Jewish  book 
where  the  doctrine  of  the  future  life  is  so  strongly  in- 
sisted upon  as  in  II.  Maccabees.  There  is,  moreover, 
most  distinct  evidence  that  the  resurrection  to  which 
the  writer  looked  forward  was  a  resurrection  not  merely 
of  the  soul  but  of  the  body  as  well.  Most  of  the  crucial 
passages  on  the  subject  occur  in  the  account  of  the 
martyrdoms  in  chaps,  vi.  and  vii. 

Authorship  and  Date. — Nothing  is  known  about 
the  author  except  that  he  was  probably  an  Alexandrian, 
who  sympathised  with,  if  he  did  not  actually  belong  to, 


24      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

the  Pharisaic  party.  He  derived  the  bulk  of  his  infor- 
mation from  a  history  of  the  Maccabees  written  by 
Jason  of  Gyrene,  whose  work  he  abridged.  It  is  not 
always  easy  to  decide,  however,  what  was  taken  from 
Jason  and  what  is  the  author's  own  production.  Nor 
have  we  any  clear  indications  which  enable  us  to  fix 
with  certainty  the  date  of  either  work.  There  are  a 
number  of  small  points  in  II.  Maccabees  which  have 
led  the  majority  of  modern  scholars  to  assume  that  the 
book  was  written  in  the  closing  decades  of  the  first 
century  B.C.,  between  60  B.C.  and  a.d.  i.  It  seems 
probable,  too,  that  Jason's  History  was  written  about  a 
century  earlier — possibly  between  150  and  120  B.C. 

THE   FIRST   BOOK  OF   ESDRAS 

The  different  titles  which  are  given  to  this  book  are 
somewhat  confusing.  In  the  Septuagint  it  is  called  the 
First  Book  of  Esdras  (Esdras  A) ;  II.  Esdras  being  equi- 
valent to  our  canonical  Books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
which  originally  formed  one  work.  In  the  Vulgate,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  termed  the  Third  Book  of  Esdras  ; 
I.  and  II.  Esdras  representing  respectively  our  Books  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  To  avoid  the  ambiguity  modem 
scholars  often  speak  of  it  as  the  "  Greek  Esdras." 

Contents. — With  the  exception  of  one  section, 
viz.  chaps,   iii.-v.   6,  the  book  is  a  compilation  from 


I.    E  S  D  R  A  S  25 


II.    Chronicles,   Ezra,   and  Nehemiah.     The   following 
table  will  make  its  relations  to  these  books  apparent : — 

Esdras  i.  =11.  Chron.  xxxv.,  xxxvi. 

ii.  1-14    =  Ezra  i. 

ii.  15-25  =  Ezra  iv.  7-24. 

iii.-v.  6     =  The  original  section. 

V.  7-  70    =  Ezra  ii.  i-iv.  5 

vi.  vii.        =  Ezra  v.,  vi. 

viii.-ix.  36  =  Ezra  vii.-x. 

ix.  37-55  =  ^^^h.  vii.  73-viii.  13. 

The  main  theme  of  the  book  is  concerned  with  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Temple.  The  chronological  arrange- 
ment, however,  is  hopeless.  After  mentioning  (chap.  ii. 
1-14)  the  decree  of  Cyrus  (53S-530  B.C.),  the  writer 
without  a  word  of  warning  leaps  over  a  period  of 
eighty  years,  and  proceeds  to  describe  (chap.  ii.  15-25) 
the  opposition  encountered  from  Artaxerxes  (464- 
425  B.C.).  In  the  original  section  of  the  book  w^e  are 
transferred  to  the  second  year  of  Darius  (520  B.C.). 
Chap.  V.  7-70  returns  to  the  reign  of  Cyrus.  In 
chaps.  \-i.  and  vii.  we  are  back  again  in  the  reign  of 
Darius,  while  the  remainder  of  the  book  belongs  to 
the  reign  of  Artaxerxes.  With  chap.  ii.  15-25  and 
chap.  V.  7-70  in  their  present  places,  it  is  impossible 
to  reduce  the  chronological  chaos  of  the  book  into 
order.     The  original  section  is  interesting.     It  gives  an 


26      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

account  of  a  literary  contest  between  three  pages-in- 
waiting  at  the  court  of  Darius.  The  three  pages  submit 
three  themes  to  Darius  on  "  what  is  the  strongest  force 
in  the  world."  The  first  maintains  that  "wine  is  the 
strongest,"  the  second  that  "  the  king  is  the  strongest," 
the  third  that  "  women  are  strongest,  but  above  all  things 
truth  beareth  away  the  victory."  The  last-named,  a 
Jewish  youth,  won  the  prize,  and  received  as  his  reward 
a  promise  from  the  King  that  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem 
should  be  rebuilt. 

Historical  Value. — The  historical  worth  of  the 
book  is  a  matter  of  keen  controversy  amongst  scholars 
to-day.  At  first  sight,  its  chronological  inaccuracies 
would  seem  to  put  it  out  of  court  altogether.  There 
are,  however,  some  important  considerations  on  the 
other  side,  (i)  It  is  clear  that  Josephus  used  I. 
Esdras  as  his  authority  for  this  period  of  Jewish  history 
in  preference  to  the  other  narratives  which  were  at  his 
disposal.  (2)  The  position  assigned  to  the  book  in  the 
Septuagint  suggests  that  more  importance  was  attached 
to  it  at  the  time  than  to  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  which  are 
accorded  an  inferior  position.  (3)  The  contents  imply 
that  it  belongs  to  a  comparatively  early  age,  when 
Chronicles,  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah  were  as  yet  undivided. 
(4)  The  book  was  universally  accepted  in  the  Christian 
Church  up  to  the  time  of  Jerome.  In  face  of  these 
arguments,  it  is  impossible  to  set  the  book  aside  as  a 


I.    ES  DR  AS  27 


worthless  compilation.  The  difficulties,  however,  remain, 
and  present  an  insoluble  problem.  Josephus  substituted 
the  name  of  Cambyses  for  the  Artaxerxes  of  chap.  ii.  15, 
and  so  removed  one  very  serious  stumbling-block.  Sir 
H.  Howorth,  who  is  the  foremost  English  champion  of 
I.  Esdras,  suggests  that  the  Darius  mentioned  in 
chaps,  vi.  and  vii.  is  not  Darius  Hystaspis,  as  is  usually 
supposed,  but  Darius  Nothus  (423-404).  Many  scholars 
think  that  the  book  was  a  compilation  of  gradual  growth. 
The  earhest  stratum  is  the  original  section  (chaps,  iii.- 
v.  6).  This  was  placed  in  a  historical  setting  by  the 
addition  of  chaps,  vi.  i-vii.  15  and  ii.  16-30  from  an 
Aramaic  document.  It  was  only  in  the  third  stage  that 
tlie  book  assumed  its  present  form,  the  further  additions 
being  made  by  a  later  writer  from  the  canonical  books. 
Some  such  theory  seems  necessary  to  explain  the 
arrangement  of  the  book.  On  any  hypothesis,  however, 
it  is  clear  that  the  failure  of  the  compiler  to  arrange  his 
sources  in  proper  order  does  not  detract  from  the 
historical  value  of  the  original  documents  themselves. 

Date  of  the  Book. — The  date  of  the  book  cannot 
be  fixed  except  within  broad  limits.  Its  use  by  Josephus 
(a.d.  100),  and  the  fact  that  he  would  not  have  been 
likely  to  use  it  unless  it  had  already  acquired  an  estab- 
lished reputation,  prove  that  it  could  not  have  been 
written  later  than  the  early  decades  of  the  first  century 
A.D.     On   the  other  hand,  its   Unguistic  affinities  with 


28      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

the  Book  of  Daniel  prove  that  it  could  not  have  been 
written  earlier  than  i68  B.C.  We  may  be  tolerably 
certain,  therefore,  that  the  book  falls  between  i6o  B.C. 
and  I  A.D.,  but  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  any  certain 
date  between  those  limits.  There  is  an  absolute  cleavage 
of  opinion  among  scholars  as  to  whether  the  book 
belongs  to  the  first  or  second  century  B.C. 

Motive  of  the  Book. — Judging  from  the  contents 
and  tone  of  I.  Esdras,  there  seems  to  be  a  suggestion  of 
three  underlying  motives  for  its  compilation,  (i)  One 
of  its  objects  was  undoubtedly  to  establish  the  dictum, 
"  Fortis  est  Veritas  et  praevalebit."  This  suggests  an 
apologetic  purpose,  and  possibly  the  book  may  have 
been  written  in  a  time  of  persecution  to  encourage  the 
Jew^ish  sufferers  and  assure  them  that  ultimately  the 
truth  was  bound  to  prevail.  (2)  There  is  a  second  apolo- 
getic note  in  the  book.  The  writer  seems  to  lay  stress 
on  the  fact  that  great  emperors  like  Cyrus,  Darius,  and 
Artaxerxes  had  shown  favour  to  the  Jews,  and  so  to 
suggest  to  the  authorities  of  his  own  time  that  their 
attitude  ought  to  be  imitated.  (3)  The  emphasis  laid 
on  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  seems  to  be  intended  by 
the  author  to  encourage  his  readers  in  a  similar  project. 
The  theory  has  been  propounded  that  the  book  was 
WTitten  to  support  Onias  in  his  task  of  establishing  a 
temple  at  Leontopolis.  There  is,  however^  no  evidence 
in    support   of   the   conjecture,    and    the    date   of  the 


I.    ESDRAS  29 


building  of  the  temple  (168)  is  too  early  for  the  com- 
position of  I.  Esdras. 

The  author  of  I.  Esdras  completely  hides  his 
identity.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  an  Alexandrian.  It 
seems  clear,  too,  that  he  did  not  use  the  Septuagint  version 
of  his  sources,  but  either  an  earlier  Greek  version  which 
has  been  lost,  or  the  Hebrew  original  itself.  The 
original  section  of  the  book  shows  no  signs  of  Hebrew 
or  Aramaic  origin. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   DIDACTIC   BOOKS 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  two  didactic  books, 
Ecclesiasticus  and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  constitute 
the  most  valuable  part  of  the  Apocrypha  for  us  to-day. 
These  books  belong  to  a  special  class  of  writings  to 
which  the  name  "  Wisdom  Literature  "  has  been  given. 
They  occupy  the  same  position  in  the  Apocrypha  as 
Job,  Proverbs,  and  Ecclesiastes  in  the  Old  Testament. 
While  the  other  types  of  Jewish  literature  deal  with  the 
peculiarly  national  aspects  of  Israelitish  religion  and  law, 
the  Wisdom  Literature  moves  on  a  broader  plain,  and 
treats  of  the  universal  elements  in  morality  and  religion. 
The  priests  and  the  scribes  were  content,  for  the  most 
part,  with  expounding  and  expanding  the  enactments  of 
the  legal  code,  but  the  wise  men  or  sages  set  themselves  to 
face  the  wider  problems  of  life  and  discover  the  essential 
truths  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  morality.  The  spirit  of 
the  sage  is  well  described  in  Ecclesiasticus  xxxix.  i-ii  : 
"  He  that  giveth  his  mind  to  the  law  of  the  Most  High 
.  .  .  will  seek  out  the  wisdom  of  all  the  ancients.  .  .  . 


ECCLESI  AST  I  CUS  31 

He  will  keep  the  sayings  of  the  renowned  men,  and 
where  subtle  parables  are,  he  will  be  there  also.  He 
will  seek  out  the  secrets  of  grave  sentences  and  be  con- 
versant in  dark  parables.  .  .  .  He  will  travel  through 
strange  countries.  .  .  .  He  will  give  his  heart  to  seek  early 
to  the  Lord,  and  will  pray  before  the  Most  High.  When 
the  great  Lord  will,  he  shall  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
understanding  :  he  shall  pour  out  wise  sentences.  He 
will  direct  his  counsel  and  knowledge,  and  on  His  secrets 
shall  he  meditate." 

ECCLESIASTICUS 

The  Title  of  the  Book.— The  word  Ecclesiasticus 
means  "belonging  to  the  Church"  or  "used  in  the 
Church."  The  title  was  bestowed  on  certain  books, 
which,  though  they  had  not  been  admitted  into  the 
Canon,  were  recognised  as  suitable  for  use  in  public 
worship.  Our  present  treatise  subsequently  seems  to 
have  monopolised  the  term,  as  being  par  excellence  the 
' '  Church-book  "  of  the  Apocrypha,  and  so  in  the  Vulgate 
it  is  called  Ecclesiasticus,  and  from  the  Vulgate  the  name 
has  passed  into  common  use.  In  the  Greek  versions, 
however,  the  book  is  generally  described  as  the  "  Wisdom 
of  Jesus,  son  of  Sirach,"  and  so  it  is  often  referred  to  by 
abbreviation  as  the  "Book  of  Sirach." 

The  Author. — The  book  was  originally  written  in 
Hebrew  by  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach,  and  translated  into 


32       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Greek  by  his  grandson,  who  bore  the  same  name.  The 
family  relationships  are  described  in  different  ways  in 
different  MSS.  Many  scholars  think  that  Jesus  was  the 
son  of  Eleazar,  and  that  the  phrase  "Son  of  Sirach"  or 
Ben  Sira  is  a  family  title.  Nothing  further  is  known 
about  either  author  or  translator.  The  former  is  de- 
scribed in  some  MSS.  as  belonging  to  Jerusalem,  but 
the  text  is  doubtful.  We  may  infer  from  certain  allu- 
sions in  the  book  itself  that  he  was  a  man  of  means  and 
leisure,  fond  of  travel,  a  philosophical  observer  of  life, 
an  ardent  Israelite,  belonging  to  the  religious  party  which 
afterwards  developed  into  Sadduceeism. 

The  Date. — The  date  of  the  Greek  edition  of  the  book 
may  be  fixed  from  the  statement  in  the  prologue,  "Coming 
into  Egypt  in  the  thirty-eighth  year  when  Euergetes  was 
king."  There  were  two  kings  of  Egypt  named  Ptolemy 
Euergetes.  The  first,  however,  only  reigned  twenty-five 
years  (247-222  B.C.),  and  so  is  impossible.  The  re- 
ference must  therefore  be  to  the  second,  who  reigned, 
partly  as  co-regent,  and  partly  as  sole  king,  from  170  to 
116  B.C.  The  date  of  the  translator's  arrival  in  Egypt 
thus  falls  in  the  year  132  B.C.,  and  his  book  was  pub- 
lished shortly  afterwards.  We  may  assume  that  his 
grandfather's  original  work  was  written  about  fifty  years 
before.  The  only  other  reference  of  importance  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  date  is  found  in  the  eulogium 
passed  upon  "  Simon  the  high  priest,  the  son  of  Onias  " 


ECCLESIASTICUS  33 

(chap.  1.  i).  Simon  is  singled  out  for  such  high  praise, 
and  his  achievements  are  described  in  such  detail,  that 
we  are  warranted  in  drawing  the  conclusion  that  he  lived 
near  to  the  times  of  the  writer  of  the  book,  and  possibly 
may  have  been  contemporaneous  with  him.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  we  cannot  identify  him  with  certainty. 
We  know  of  two  men  who  answer  to  the  description 
given  :  (i)  Simon  I.,  the  son  of  Onias  I.  (310-291  B.C.); 
(2)  Simon  11. ,  son  of  Onias  II.  (219-199  B.C.).  The 
second  named  fits  in  with  the  date  mentioned  above 
(190-170  B.C.),  but  we  cannot  be  certain  with  regard  to 
the  identification  because  we  only  possess  very  scanty 
information  about  him.  A  theory  has  recently  been 
propounded  by  N.  Schmidt  that  the  Simon  of  Eccle- 
siasticus  ought  to  be  identified  with  Simon  the  Maccabee 
(143-137  B.C.),  the  phrase  "son  of  Onias  "  being  due  to 
a  corruption  of  the  text.  There  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said 
in  favour  of  this  view.  It  need  not,  however,  affect  the 
date  which  we  have  assigned  to  the  original  work,  as 
Schmidt  holds  that  the  concluding  chapters  of  the  book 
are  a  later  appendix,  and  did  not  form  part  of  the 
Hebrew  edition.  We  may  safely,  therefore,  date  the 
Greek  Ecclesiasticus  between  130  and  120  B.C.  and  the 
Hebrew  original  between  190  and  170  B.C. 

The  Contents  of  the  Book. — It  is  impossible  to 
give  an  analysis  of  the  book.  It  consists  very  largely 
of  a  number  of  proverbs  and  counsels   strung  loosely 

c 


34       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

together  without  any  orderly  development  of  thought. 
It  gives  advice  on  the  regulation  of  conduct  under  all 
possible  circumstances  and  in  every  relationship  of  life. 
It  lays  down  rules  for  the  training  of  children,  the 
management  of  business,  the  treatment  of  slaves,  the 
government  of  the  nation,  Szc.  There  is  no  attempt, 
however,  to  arrange  these  precepts  on  any  definite 
principle.  The  writer  turns  at  random  from  one  sub- 
ject to  another.  The  process  by  which  the  book  was 
composed  seems  to  have  been  this. — The  writer  col- 
lected from  every  available  source  striking  sayings, 
interesting  proverbs,  sage  counsels,  shrewd  remarks, 
and  apposite  phrases,  and  then  without  even  attempt- 
ing to  classify  them,  threw  them  together  into  a  book, 
adding  here  and  there  dicta  of  his  own.  He  describes 
himself  as  "  one  that  gathered  after  the  grape-gatherers, 
and  filled  his  wine-press  like  a  gatherer  of  grapes " 
(chap,  xxxiii.  i6).  The  last  eight  chapters  of  the  book 
on  "  the  praise  of  famous  men,"  seem  to  be  a  separate 
composition,  and  are  marked  by  a  unity  of  purpose 
which  is  entirely  lacking  in  the  remainder  of  the  book. 

Religious  Teaching. — Ecclesiasticus  is  of  supreme 
importance  to  us  because  it  gives  a  clear  picture  of  the 
religious  thought  and  ethical  teaching  of  the  second 
century  B.C.  The  doctrine  of  God  represented  by  the 
book  may  be  described  as  conventional  and  common- 
place.    The  writer  is  a  firm  believer  in  God  as  the  Ruler 


ECCLESIASTICUS  35 

of  the  Universe  and  the  Lord  of  mankind,  but  his  state- 
ments are  altogether  devoid  of  originaHty,  and  lack 
prophetic  insight  and  passion.  "It  would  have  been 
as  impossible  for  him,"  says  Schmidt,  "  to  watch  with 
the  eyes  of  an  Amos  or  an  Isaiah  the  doings  of  Israel's 
Holy  One,  as  to  go  forth  with  unwavering  faith  in  his 
own  inspiration  to  deliver  the  oracles  of  Yahwe."  He 
emphasises  the  forbearance  and  mercy  of  God.  "  Great 
is  the  pity  and  forgiveness  of  God,  for  all  things  are  not 
possible  to  men"  (chap.  xvii.  25).  He  attaches  very 
litde  importance  to  the  conception  of  atonement.  "  Say 
not,  God  will  look  upon  the  multitude  of  my  oblations  " 
(chap.  vii.  9).  "  Concerning  propitiation  be  not  without 
fear  to  add  sin  to  sin"  (chap.  v.  5).  Almsgiving  is  of 
more  importance,  as  an  act  of  atonement,  than  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  Temple.  The  book  knows  nothing  of  angels 
or  spirits.  There  are  a  few  allusions  to  supernatural 
beings  in  the  Greek  version,  but  they  are  completely 
absent  from  the  original  Hebrew.  Even  when  quotations 
are  given  from  the  Old  Testament,  all  references  to  angels 
in  them  are  carefully  obliterated.  The  sole  intermediary 
between  God  and  Man  is  the  Divine  attribute  of  Wisdom, 
which  is  personified  and  represented  as  the  eternal  prin- 
ciple of  creation.  There  is  absolutely  no  place  in  the 
theology  of  Ecclesiasticus  for  the  conception  of  a  future 
life.  "  Who  shall  praise  the  Most  High  in  the  grave  ?  .  .  . 
The  son  of  man  is  not  immortal"  (chap.  xvii.  27,  30). 


36       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Ethical  Teaching. — Ecclesiasticus  was  intended  by 
its  author  to  be  a  compendium  of  ethical  teaching — a 
kind  of  vade  fnecum — the  moral  "guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend  "  of  the  average  Jew  in  every  relationship  of 
life.  "  It  gives,"  as  Schmidt  says,  "  more  detailed 
directions  than  any  other  book  in  the  Bible  as  to  proper 
conduct  in  different  circumstances.  It  teaches  a  man 
how  to  govern  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  slaves : 
how  to  deal  with  his  friends  and  his  foes,  his  superiors 
and  inferiors,  his  creditors  and  his  debtors,  the  rich  and 
the  poor :  how  to  behave  at  the  banqueting  table  and 
in  the  house  of  mourning,  in  the  home  and  in  the  public 
assembly,  in  the  Temple  and  in  the  mart :  how  to  control 
his  passions,  practise  moderation,  cultivate  his  nobler 
tastes,  emulate  the  example  and  seek  the  company  of 
the  wise."  Amongst  the  more  prominent  characteristics 
of  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  book  we  may  note  :  (i)  The 
i?ifluence  of  Greek  philosophy.  Wisdom  is  identified  with 
knowledge  according  to  the  Socratic  principle.  Through- 
out the  book  the  pious  man  is  represented  as  wise,  the 
sinner  as  a  fool.  (2)  The  utilitarian  character  of  the 
syste??i.  The  writer  undoubtedly  attempts  to  connect 
his  ethical  system  with  his  religion,  and  to  make  the 
fear  of  God  his  main  moral  motive ;  but  all  his  sanctions 
are  prudential ;  the  end  of  morality  is  always  the  man's 
own  well-being  and  happiness.  (3)  The  exterfiality  of 
the  ethical  teaching.     The  book   deals  almost   entirely 


ECCLESIASTICUS  37 

with  the  external  aspects  of  morality :  very  little  is  said 
about  the  aspirations,  motives,  and  ideals  of  the  inward 
life.  (4)  Limitation  to  the  present  life.  There  being 
no  conception  of  a  future  existence  in  Ecclesiasticus,  the 
ethical  teaching  is  concerned  entirely  with  the  present 
life.  The  punishment  of  vice  and  the  reward  of  virtue 
are  dealt  out  here  and  now.  (5)  Individualisvi.  The 
ethics  of  Ecclesiasticus  are  individualistic.  No  interest 
is  taken  in  the  national  life  or  in  society  as  a  whole. 

The  Different  Versions  of  the  Book. — The  author 
of  the  Greek  Ecclesiasticus  says  in  his  preface  that  the 
book  was  originally  written  in  Hebrew,  and  Jerome 
states  that  a  Hebrew  version  was  in  existence  in  the 
fourth  century  a.d.  All  traces  of  the  Hebrew  original 
were  lost  up  to  1896,  when  Mrs.  Agnes  Lewis  brought 
a  fragment  from  Palestine  containing  chaps,  xxxix.  15- 
xl.  18.  This  discovery  led  to  further  investigation,  and 
many  other  fragments  have  been  brought  to  light,  largely 
owing  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  S.  Schechter.  These  frag- 
ments contain  the  bulk  of  the  book,  though  several 
chapters  are  still  missing.  A  good  deal  of  discussion 
has  been  raised  as  to  whether  these  fragments  can  claim 
to  represent  the  original  Hebrew  text.  Some  scholars 
have  maintained  that  they  are  a  re-translation  made 
either  from  a  Persian  or  Syriac  version.  On  the  whole, 
however,  it  may  be  said  that  the  consensus  of  modern 
criticism  favours  the  view  that  they  represent  the  original 


38       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Hebrew,  and  regards  them  of  great  importance  for  the 
work  of  textual  criticism.  Besides  these  Hebrew 
fragments,  we  have  versions  in  Syriac  (made  from  the 
Hebrew),  in  Latin  (made  from  the  Greek),  in  Coptic, 
in  ^thiopic,  and  in  Armenian. 


THE  BOOK  OF  WISDOM 

The  Book  of  Wisdom  belongs  to  the  same  class  of 
literature  as  Ecclesiasticus,  but  represents  a  great  advance 
upon  it  in  many  important  respects.  In  its  prophetic 
insight,  in  its  religious  outlook,  in  the  ordered  develop- 
ment of  its  thought,  and  in  the  broad  range  of  its  ideas, 
it  is  undoubtedly  far  superior  to  the  earlier  book. 

Contents. — The  book  may  be  divided  into  the 
following  parts :  (i)  Chaps,  i.-v.  are  polemical,  and 
attack  the  current  unbelief  and  pessimism  of  the  age. 
Wisdom  is  depicted  as  the  source  of  immortality. 
(2)  Chaps,  vi.-ix.  contain  the  writer's  own  positive  state- 
ment, based,  or  supposed  to  be  based  on  his  own  expe- 
rience. Wisdom  is  commended  as  the  source  of  all 
moral  and  intellectual  power.  (3)  Chaps,  x.-xix.  are  an 
appeal  to  the  history  of  Israel  in  support  of  the  writer's 
fundamental  position.  Illustrations  are  taken  from  the 
lives  of  the  patriarchs,  and  the  early  history  of  the 
nation,  to  prove  that  wisdom  has  always  been  at  the  root 
of  success,  and  the  lack  of  it  the  cause  of  failure.    In  the 


WISDOM  39 


midst  of  this  section  there  is  a  digression  (chaps,  xiii.- 
XV.)  containing  a  very  strong  denunciation  of  idolatry. 

Aim  and  Purpose. — The  book  is  partly  polemical 
and  partly  apologetic.  Its  opening  chapters  contain  a 
very  strong  attack  against  "  the  ungodly."  By  "  the  un- 
godly "  the  writer  probably  means  the  Sadducees.  He 
describes  them  as  men  who  deny  the  future  life,  and 
are  not  deterred  by  the  fear  of  punishment  after  death. 
"  After  our  end  there  is  no  returning."  As  a  result 
they  became  Epicurean  in  their  attitude  to  moral  ques- 
tions. "  Our  life  is  short  and  tedious,"  they  said ;  "  let 
us  enjoy  the  good  things  that  are  present;  let  us  fill 
ourselves  with  costly  wine  and  ointments,  and  deck 
ourselves  with  rosebuds  before  they  are  withered ! " 
(chap.  ii.  5-9).  The  arguments  with  which  the  Book 
of  Wisdom  meets  the  Hedonism  of  the  age  imply 
a  great  advance  upon  the  ethical  situation  in  Eccle- 
siasticus.  The  writer  of  Ecclesiasticus  is  content  with 
the  simple  statement  that  men  should  be  virtuous 
because  virtue  is  its  own  reward  in  this  life.  That 
position,  however,  in  the  interval  between  the  two  books, 
had  fallen  to  pieces  because  it  seemed  contrary  to  the 
facts  of  life.  Virtue  did  not  always  secure  the  prize. 
The  righteous  suffered  like  other  people.  The  loss  of 
the  conventional  moral  sanction  drove  men  over  into 
Epicureanism,  and  it  is  as  a  protest  against  this  fatal 
tendency  that  the  Book  of  Wisdom  was  written.     Upon 


40       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

what  does  the  writer  base  his  new  Apologetic?  He  bases 
it:  (i)  Partly  upon  his  doctrine  of  the  future  life.  He 
introduces  new  religious  sanctions  in  place  of  the  old 
exploded  Utilitarianism.  (2)  Partly  upon  an  appeal  to 
his  own  personal  experiences.  (3)  Partly,  too,  upon  an 
appeal  to  history.  It  was  the  first  argument,  however, 
that  constituted  the  writer's  chief  contribution  to  Jewish 
thought.  He  attempted  to  redress  the  balance  in  favour 
of  morality  by  "caUing  a  new  world  into  being."  We 
shall  not  be  far  wrong  if  we  say  that  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
was  written  to  counteract  the  pessimism  and  scepticism 
which  had  been  created  by  the  failure  of  Utilitarianism 
as  represented  by  Ecclesiasticus. 

Author. — We  know  nothing  about  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Wisdom,  except  that  he  must  have  been  an 
Alexandrian  Jew.  Augustine  attributed  it  to  Jesus  the 
son  of  Sirach,  but  the  differences  between  it  and 
Ecclesiasticus  put  the  theory  out  of  court  at  once. 
Jerome  tells  us  that  many  of  "  the  old  writers "  of  his 
time  regarded  Philo  as  its  author,  and  this  view  was 
accepted  by  Luther  and  many  other  scholars  of  the 
Reformation  period.  A  careful  examination  of  Philo's 
works,  however,  reveals  such  marked  discrepancies  of 
style,  terminology,  method  of  quotation,  and  philosophy 
that  this  theory  is  now  universally  rejected.  An  attempt 
has  been  made  in  recent  times  to  associate  the  name  of 
Apollos  with  the  authorship  of  the  book.     This  hypo- 


WISDOM  41 


thesis  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  Apollos  was  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  It  is  nothing 
more  than  a  conjecture,  and  cannot  be  substantiated. 
The  absence  of  any  specifically  Christian  ideas  is  a 
most  serious  objection  to  the  theory. 

Date. — We  have  very  few  data  for  fixing  the  date  of 
the  book.  The  writer  uses  the  Septuagint  of  the 
Pentateuch,  and  the  book  must  therefore  have  been 
written  later  than  250  B.C.  It  is  certain  that  the  book 
was  known  to  and  used  by  Paul,  especially  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans.  This  fixes  the  latest  possible  limit  at 
about  A.D.  50.  There  is  the  utmost  divergence  of 
opinion  as  to  the  point  at  which  the  book  ought  to 
be  placed  within  these  two  extremes.  Modern  scholars 
prefer  either  a  date  between  100  B.C.  and  a.d.  i  or  a 
date  between  a.d.  i  and  40.  We  shall  probably  not  be 
far  wrong  if  we  say  that  the  book  was  written  somewhere 
about  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era. 

Religious  Outlook. — The  religious  teaching  of  the 
Book  of  Wisdom  is  extremely  interesting.  The  writer 
emphasises  the  omniscience  and  omnipotence  of  God, 
yet  links  with  this  conception  a  firm  belief  in  the  Divine 
Fatherhood.  He  lays  far  greater  stress  on  the  love  of 
God  than  other  Apocryphal  writers.  "  Thou  lovest  all 
the  things  that  are,  and  abhorrest  nothing.  .  .  .  Thou 
sparest  all  things,  O  God,  thou  lover  of  souls  "  (chap.  xi. 
24-26).     The  most  interesting  point  in  his  doctrine  of 


42        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

God  is  the  way  in  which  he  develops  the  personification 
of  the  Divine  attribute  of  Wisdom.  "Wisdom  is  the 
breath  of  the  power  of  God  and  a  pure  influence  flowing 
from  the  glory  of  the  Almighty.  .  .  .  She  is  the  bright- 
ness of  everlasting  light,  the  unspotted  mirror  of  the 
power  of  God  and  the  image  of  his  goodness.  And 
being  but  one,  she  can  do  all  things,  and  remaining  in 
herself  she  maketh  all  things  new,  and  in  all  ages 
entering  into  the  holy  souls  she  maketh  them  friends  of 
God  and  prophets"  (chap.  vii.  25-27).  The  concep- 
tions of  the  Logos  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  also  a 
prominent  feature  of  the  book,  though  the  exact  relation 
between  these  ideas  and  Wisdom  is  not  defined.  In  one 
passage  the  three  great  conceptions — God,  Wisdom, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit — are  joined  together  in  a  manner 
which  adumbrates  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
(chap.  ix.  17).  There  can  be  Httle  doubt  that  the 
speculations  of  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
helped  to  provide  the  categories  for  the  Christian 
interpretation  of  Christ.  In  fact,  some  of  the  language 
in  which  he  describes  Wisdom  is  boldly  borrowed  by 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  applied 
to  Christ  (compare  chap.  vii.  26  and  Heb.  i.  i,  2).  It 
is  in  his  doctrine  of  man  and  the  future  Ufe,  however, 
that  the  writer  of  Wisdom  shows  most  originality.  He 
believes,  for  instance,  in  the  pre-existence  of  souls,  an 
idea  which  he  borrowed  from  Greek  philosophy.     He 


WISDOM  43 


holds  that  man  was  created  for  immortahty.  "  God 
created  man,"  he  says,  "  for  immortality,  and  made  him 
the  image  of  his  own  eternity"  (chap.  ii.  23).  "God 
did  not  make  death,  and  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  living"  (chap,  i.  12).  Death  was  intro- 
duced into  the  world  through  the  Fall.  "  Through  envy 
of  the  devil  death  came  into  the  world  "  (chap.  ii.  24). 
Another  conception  borrowed  from  Greek  thought  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  stress  which  is  laid  on  the  dualism  of 
body  and  soul.  "The  corruptible  body  presses  down 
the  soul  and  the  earthly  tabernacle  weigheth  down  the 
mind"  (chap.  iv.  15).  Wisdom  cannot  dwell  "in  a 
body  subject  to  sin "  (chap.  i.  4).  The  writer's  belief 
in  the  future  life  is  expressed  with  indomitable  con- 
viction. "  The  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hand 
of  God,  and  there  shall  no  torment  touch  them.  .  .  . 
Though  they  be  punished  in  the  sight  of  men,  yet  is 
their  hope  full  of  immortality"  (chap.  iii.  1-4).  "The 
righteous  shall  live  for  ever,  and  in  the  Lord  is  their 
reward"  (chap.  v.  15).  The  wicked  will  suffer  retribu- 
tion in  this  world  and  the  next. 

No  one  can  read  the  Book  of  Wisdom  without  being 
struck  by  the  many  points  of  similarity  between  its 
teaching  and  the  theology  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  important 
sources  from  which  Paul  drew  the  materials  out  of  which 
he  constructed  his  philosophy  of  the  Christian  religion. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   RELIGIOUS    ROMANCES 

The  Jews  utilised  all  the  resources  of  literature  in  their 
efforts  to  enforce  the  truths  of  their  religion  and  kindle 
the  flame  of  religious  enthusiasm.  History,  poetry, 
philosophy,  and  prophecy  were  all  pressed  into  service, 
and  it  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  them  using 
legends  and  romances — religious  novels,  as  we  should 
term  them  to-day — as  vehicles  for  conveying  instruction 
and  arousing  faith.  The  two  most  important  of  these 
romances  are  the  Books  of  Judith  and  Tobit.  "  The 
Story  of  Susanna"  and  "The  Story  of  Bel  and  the 
Dragon "  are  further  illustrations  of  the  same  literary 
principle.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  to  attempt  to  discover 
history  in  these  works.  They  are  religious  novels  pure 
and  simple,  and  it  is  only  when  we  recognise  this  that 
they  become  intelligible. 

THE   BOOK  OF  JUDITH 

The  Story  of  the  Book. — The  tale  of  Judith  has 
come  down  to  us  in  two  different  versions.  The  story 
as  it   is    told   in   the    ordinary   version   is    as  follows : 


JUDITH  45 


Nebuchadnezzar,  King  of  the  Assyrians,  after  defeating 
Arphaxad  of  Ecbatana,  resolves  to  send  a  punitive 
expedition  against  the  nations  between  Persia  and 
Memphis  which  had  refused  to  render  him  help  in  the 
war.  Holofernes,  who  is  put  in  command,  marches 
towards  Palestine  and  occupies  the  principal  towns  on 
the  sea  coasts.  The  Jews,  terrified  by  the  tidings  of  his 
approach,  hastily  fortify  the  hill-country  in  order  to 
protect  Jerusalem.  Special  instructions  are  sent  to  the 
fortress  of  Bethulia,  which  commanded  the  situation,  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  Assyrian  army.  Holofernes 
lays  siege  to  Bethulia  and  cuts  off  the  water  supply. 
The  people,  in  despair,  beseech  the  rulers  of  the  city  to 
surrender,  and  they  agree  to  do  so  unless  help  arrives 
within  five  days.  Judith,  however,  hearing  of  this 
craven  counsel,  determines  to  save  the  city  with  her  own 
hands.  After  obtaining  permission  of  the  rulers,  she 
puts  off  her  widow's  dress,  and  attiring  herself  in  her 
finest  robes,  goes  into  the  camp  of  Holofernes  and 
obtains  an  audience  with  him  on  the  plea  that  she  has 
useful  information  to  impart  which  will  enable  him  to 
take  the  town.  Holofernes  becomes  enamoured  of  her 
beauty  and  invites  her  to  a  banquet.  She  accepts  the 
invitation  in  order  to  gain  her  purpose.  Holofernes 
drinks  deeply  and  falls  into  a  drunken  sleep.  Judith 
with  her  own  scimitar  cuts  off  his  head  and  carries  it 
back  to  Bethulia  in  triumph.     The  Assyrian  army,  when 


46       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

it  hears  of  the  death  of  its  general,  retreats  in  con- 
fusion and  Jerusalem  is  saved. 

In  the  shorter  version,  though  the  story  is  practically 
the  same,  it  is  put  in  a  different  setting.  Seleucus  takes 
the  place  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Holofernes,  and  the 
scene  is  laid  at  Jerusalem  and  not  at  Bethulia. 

The  Religious  Tone  of  the  Book.— The  Book  of 
Judith  possesses  some  very  marked  religious  character- 
istics. No  one  can  read  it,  for  instance,  without  noting 
the  stress  which  is  laid  on  legal  observances  and 
ceremonial.  Judith's  piety  is  described  as  consisting 
largely  {a)  in  the  regularity  of  her  fastings  (chap.  viii.  6), 
(b)  in  the  scrupulous  care  with  which  she  avoided  un- 
clean meats  (chap.  x.  5,  xii.  2),  {c)  in  her  attention  to  the 
ritual  "  washings  "  prescribed  by  the  law  (chap.  xii.  7-9). 
The  same  conception  is  very  prominent,  too,  in  the 
significant  passage  in  which  Judith  declares  to  Holo- 
fernes that  the  city  will  be  taken  because  its  inhabitants 
will  be  forced  by  famine  to  offend  God  by  eating  unclean 
food  (chap.  xi.  11-19).  The  Temple,  too,  occupies  an 
important  position  in  the  book.  The  main  concern  of 
the  Jews  at  the  prospect  of  Holofernes'  conquests  is 
that  the  Temple  will  be  destroyed  (chap.  iv.  11-15). 
All  these  marks  point  to  the  fact  that  the  author 
sympathised  with  the  Pharasaic  party,  though  it  should 
be  noted  that  there  is  no  reference  to  angels  or  a  belief 
in  the  future  life. 


J  U  D  I  T  H— T  OBIT  47 

Object  of  the  Book. — It  is  quite  clear  that  Judith 
is  not  history.  Luther  was  right  when  he  spoke  of 
it  as  a  "poem"  or  "sacred  drama."  It  was  written 
to  encourage  the  Jews  to  be  faithful  to  their  religion 
and  their  law  in  the  face  of  heathen  attacks.  "Judith," 
says  Dr.  Sayce,  "  is  a  type  of  that  portion  of  the  Jewish 
nation  who  remained  true  to  the  Law  and  its  observances, 
and  against  whom,  therefore,  weak  though  they  seemed 
to  be,  the  whole  might  of  the  Gentile  world  was  unable  to 
prevail."  The  book  may  be  described  as  a  religious 
novel  with  a  purpose — the  purpose  being  to  induce  men 
to  keep  the  Law  under  the  promise  of  God's  protection. 

The  Date. — The  date  of  Judith  is  a  matter  of  dis- 
pute. There  are  numerous  theories,  but  the  only  two 
which  claim  consideration  are:  (i)  the  theory  which 
connects  it  with  the  Maccabaean  age  (160-140  B.C.); 
(2)  the  theory  which  places  it  at  a  date  soon  after  the 
Roman  invasion  in  63  B.C.  We  have  not  sufficient 
evidence  to  decide  absolutely  between  these  two  views, 
but  the  similarity  of  the  religious  outlook  in  Judith 
and  the  Psalms  of  Solomon  has  led  many  scholars  to 
accept  the  second  alternative,  and  date  the  book  about 
50  B.C. 

THE  BOOK  OF   TOBIT 

The  Book  of  Tobit,  though  of  quite  a  different  type 
from  Judith,  may  be  regarded  as  a  companion  volume 
because  it  belongs  to  the  same  class  of  literature. 


48       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

The  Story  of  the  Book.— Tobit  tells  the  story  of 
the  misfortunes  which  befell  two  Jewish  families,  and 
of  a  happy  denouement^  resulting  in  their  union  by 
marriage.  The  plot  is  of  a  less  heroic  and  more 
domestic  character  than  in  the  case  of  Judith.  Tobit, 
a  pious  Jew,  had  been  carried  away  captive,  together 
with  his  son  Tobias  and  his  wife  Anna,  by  Shalmaneser 
to  Nineveh.  At  Nineveh,  though  remaining  faithful  to 
the  principles  of  the  Jewish  religion,  he  obtained  favour 
at  court,  and  was  appointed  royal  purveyor.  After 
the  accession  of  Sennacherib,  who  succeeded  Shalma- 
neser, he  fell  into  disrepute,  owing  largely  to  his  habit 
of  giving  burial  to  his  Jewish  kinsmen  who  had  been 
killed  in  the  streets  of  Nineveh.  He  lost  his  sight,  too, 
through  an  accident,  and  became  entirely  dependent 
upon  his  wife  for  support.  One  day  his  wife,  in  a  fit 
of  temper,  taunted  him  with  the  uselessness  of  his  alms 
and  deeds  of  piety.  In  despair  he  prayed  to  God  that 
he  might  die.  At  this  point  we  are  introduced  by  the 
story  to  the  second  family,  who  lived  at  Ecbatana. 
Sara,  the  daughter  of  Raguel,  had  been  married  to  seven 
husbands,  all  of  whom  had  been  slain  by  the  demon 
Asmodeus  on  the  bridal  night.  And  on  the  day  when 
Tobit  was  taunted  by  his  wife,  Sara  was  also  driven  to 
distraction  by  the  reproaches  of  her  maids,  and  prayed 
for  death.  The  prayers  of  both  were  heard,  and  the 
angel   Raphael  was  sent    to   deliver   them.     The   help 


T  O  B  I  T  49 


came  in  the  following  way.  Some  time  previously  Tobit 
had  deposited  ten  talents  of  silver  with  a  Jew  at  Rages. 
Under  the  pressure  of  poverty  he  now  resolved  to  send 
his  son  Tobias  to  secure  the  money.  When  Tobias 
sought  for  a  guide  to  accompany  him,  the  angel  Raphael 
offered  his  services.  Terms  were  arranged,  and  the 
two  set  out  on  the  journey.  It  was  necessary  for  them 
to  go  through  Ecbatana,  and  they  stayed  with  Raguel, 
who  was  a  kinsman  of  Tobit.  Tobias  fell  in  love  with 
Sara,  and  sought  her  hand  in  marriage,  undeterred  by 
the  fate  of  her  previous  husbands.  By  means  of  a 
magic  charm,  given  to  him  by  the  angel,  Tobias  exor- 
cised the  evil  spirit,  and  the  wedding  festival  was  cele- 
brated amidst  much  rejoicing.  Having  obtained  the 
repayment  of  the  loan,  Tobias  and  his  wife  w^ent  to 
Nineveh  wnth  Raphael.  Tobit  is  cured  of  his  blindness 
and  all  ends  happily. 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  Tobit. — The  religious 
purpose  of  Tobit  is  very  similar  to  that  of  Judith.  Great 
stress  is  laid  upon  legal  observances  and  upon  almsgiving. 
This  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the  description  of  Tobit's 
piety.  "  I  went  often  to  Jerusalem  at  the  feasts  .  .  . 
having  the  first-fruits  and  tenths  of  increase  .  .  .  and 
them  gave  I  at  the  altar  to  the  priests"  (chap.  i.  5,  6). 
"  All  my  brethren  did  eat  of  the  bread  of  the  Gentiles  .  .  . 
but  I  kept  myself  from  eating  (chap.  v.  7).  "I  gave 
many  alms  to  my  brethren,  and  bread  to  the  hungry, 

D 


50       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

and  clothes  to  the  naked,  and  if  I  saw  any  of  my  nation 
dead  I  buried  him"  (chap.  v.  i6,  17).  The  same  ideal 
appears  in  the  words  of  the  angel  (chap.  xi.  4-15): 
"  Prayer  is  good  with  fasting  and  alms  and  righteous- 
ness. ...  It  is  better  to  give  alms  than  to  lay  up 
gold,  for  alms  doth  deliver  from  death,  and  shall  purge 
away  all  sin."  The  moral  of  the  book  appears  in  Tobit's 
final  appeal :  "  O,  ye  sinners,  turn  ye  and  do  righteous- 
ness before  him ;  who  can  tell  if  he  will  accept  you  and 
have  mercy  on  you  ?  "  (chap.  xiii.  6).  There  are,  however, 
some  points  which  are  emphasised  in  Tobit  which  have 
nothing  corresponding  to  them  in  Judith,  (i)  The  belief 
in  angels  and  demons  plays  a  most  important  part  in 
the  book.  Raphael  and  Asmodeus  are  two  of  the  chief 
drafnatis  perso7ia.  (2)  The  belief  in  magic  is  also 
most  pronounced.  The  demon  Asmodeus  is  expelled 
by  the  smoke  produced  by  burning  the  heart  and  liver 
of  a  fish,  according  to  the  instructions  of  Raphael. 
Tobit's  eyes  are  cured  by  an  application  of  gall  taken 
from  the  same  fish.  (3)  The  necessity  for  the  proper 
burial  of  the  dead  is  insisted  upon. 

Different  Versions  of  the  Story. — The  story  of  Tobit 
was  so  popular  that  versions  of  it  were  issued  in  Hebrew, 
Aramaic,  Syriac,  Latin,  and  Greek.  These  versions 
vary  from  each  other  in  many  important  details.  Some 
of  them,  for  instance,  omit  the  reference  to  the  dog 
which   accompanied    Raphael   and    Tobias.      Some   of 


TOBIT  51 


them  speak  of  Tobit  in  the  third  person  throughout, 
others  make  Tobit  speak  in  the  first  person  as  far  as 
chap.  iii.  15.  Some  of  them  expand  the  didactic  part 
of  the  book.  These  variations  show  that  the  book  as 
we  possess  it  to-day  in  the  ordinary  form  passed  through 
many  stages,  in  each  of  which  it  received  accretions. 
The  allusions  to  Achiacharus  are  interesting.  They 
represent  a  separate  story — the  legend  of  Ahikar — which 
has  been  woven  in  different  forms  into  the  Tobit  narra- 
tive. Ahikar,  according  to  the  legend,  was  a  pious 
courtier  of  Sennacherib,  who,  being  childless,  adopted  a 
boy,  Nadan,  and  brought  him  up  as  his  heir  and  suc- 
cessor. Nadan,  however,  turned  against  Ahikar,  and  by 
means  of  forged  documents  accused  him  of  treason  and 
secured  his  condemnation.  The  executioner,  however, 
spared  his  life  and  imprisoned  him  in  a  cellar  beneath 
his  house.  Later  on  he  was  rescued  and  restored  to 
favour  (see  Tobit  xiv.  10). 

Purpose  of  the  Book. — The  writer  of  Tobit  used, 
as  his  groundwork,  a  common  story,  which  has  its 
counterpart  in  most  mythologies,  and  adapted  it  as  a 
vehicle  for  enforcing  the  moral  and  religious  truths  of 
Judaism — especially  the  duty  of  obeying  the  Law,  giving 
alms,  and  burying  the  dead.  Luther  described  the  book 
as  "  a  truly  beautiful,  wholesome,  and  profitable  fiction." 

Date  of  the  Book. — The  only  data  which  we  have 
for  fixing  the  approximate  date   of  Tobit  are:  (i)  We 


52       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

know  that  it  was  quoted  by  Polycarp  in  a.d.  112. 
(2)  In  chap.  xiv.  5,  6  we  read,  "God  will  bring  them 
again  into  the  land,  where  they  shall  build  a  temple,  but 
not  like  to  the  first  .  .  .  Afterward  the  house  of  God 
shall  be  built  with  a  glorious  building."  This  passage 
has  been  taken  to  mean  that  Tobit  was  written  before 
the  commencement  of  Herod's  Temple,  but  the  deduc- 
tion is  not  absolutely  convincing.  (3)  The  prominence 
given  to  the  burial  of  the  dead  may  point  to  the 
Maccabaean  age.  Antiochus  Epiphanes  "cast  out  a 
multitude"  unburied.  (4)  Tobit  has  many  points  of 
resemblance  with  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus.  These 
indications  have  led  the  majority  of  modern  scholars  to 
place  the  book  in  the  second  century  B.C.,  probably 
between  150  and  100  B.C. 

THE   STORY   OF   SUSANNA 

The  Story  of  Susanna  is  one  of  the  three  additions 
made  by  the  Apocrypha  to  the  canonical  Book  of  Daniel. 
In  the  Septuagint  it  is  placed  before  chap.  i. ;  in  the 
Vulgate  it  stands  as  chap.  xiii. 

The  Narrative. — The  story  has  no  connection  with 
the  Book  of  Daniel,  except  that  it  illustrates  the  wise 
judgment  of  the  hero  of  the  book.  Susanna  is  the  wife 
of  Joachim,  a  wealthy  Jew  of  Babylon.  Two  Jewish 
elders,  ravished  by  her  beauty,  form  an  intrigue  against 


THE    STORY    OF    SUSANNA        53 

her.  Foiled  in  their  purpose,  they  charge  her  before  the 
Council  with  having  committed  adultery,  and  produce 
evidence  in  support  of  their  accusation.  Susanna  is 
condemned  by  the  Council.  At  this  point  Daniel  comes 
into  the  court  and  calls  for  a  new  trial  on  the  ground 
that  the  witnesses  have  committed  perjury.  He  demands 
that  the  two  elders  shall  be  examined  separately.  A 
discrepancy  at  once  makes  itself  apparent  between  the 
stories  of  the  two  men.  Susanna  is  acquitted  and  the 
elders  are  condemned. 

The  Motive  of  the  Story. — Here,  again,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  we  have  a  common  story,  which  is 
widely  circulated  in  different  forms,  put  into  Jewish 
dress  and  used  to  enforce  a  Jewish  moral.  An  ingenious 
theory  as  to  its  origin  and  motive  has  been  suggested  by 
an  English  scholar,  C.  J.  Ball.  About  the  year  100  B.C. 
a  miscarriage  of  justice  occurred  in  Jerusalem,  the  son 
of  Simon,  the  President  of  the  Council,  being  condemned 
by  the  perjury  of  his  accusers.  This  led  the  Pharisaic 
party  to  advocate  legal  reforms  :  (a)  the  more  stringent 
examination  of  witnesses ;  (d)  the  infliction  of  severer 
penalties  on  false  witnesses.  If  perjury  was  discovered, 
the  guilty  parties  were  to  suffer  the  same  penalty  which 
they  had  attempted  to  inflict  on  the  innocent.  The 
Sadducean  party  opposed,  arguing  that  the  penalty  ought 
not  to  be  inflicted  on  the  perjurers  unless  the  innocent 
victim   had   actually   suffered    it.     On  this  theory,   the 


54       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

story  of  Susanna  is  a  tract  issued  by  the  Pharisees  in 
support  of  their  policy. 


BEL  AND   THE   DRAGON 

This  forms  another  addition  to  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
It  consists  of  two  independent  stories,  which  have  no 
connection  with  each  other  except  that  they  are  both 
associated  with  the  name  of  Daniel,  and  both  are 
directed  against  idolatrous  practices. 

The  Story  of  Bel. — The  image  of  Bel  was  one  of  the 
chief  objects  of  worship  in  the  city  of  Babylon.  Daniel, 
true  to  his  principles,  refused  to  obey  the  king's  edict 
enjoining  the  worship  of  the  image.  The  king  expostu- 
lated, and  in  proof  of  the  deity  of  the  image  pointed 
to  the  amount  of  food  which  it  consumed.  Daniel  in 
reply  asks  the  king  to  arrange  for  a  test.  The  food  is 
prepared  and  the  doors  are  sealed,  and  Daniel,  sus- 
pecting the  trickery  of  the  priests,  has  the  floor  lightly 
strewn  with  fine  ashes.  Next  morning,  though  the  seals 
are  unbroken,  the  food  is  gone.  Examination,  however, 
discloses  the  marks  of  naked  feet  on  the  floor.  The 
priests  are  convicted  and  put  to  death. 

The  Story  of  the  Dragon. — There  was  in  Babylon 
a  great  dragon  which  was  universally  worshipped  as 
divine.  Daniel,  however,  again  refused,  and  offered  to 
kill  the  beast.     Upon  obtaining  the  king's  permission, 


THE    APOCRYPHAL    ADDITIONS     55 

he  prepared  a  concoction  largely  comprised  of  pitch, 
and  threw  it  to  the  dragon.  As  a  result  the  dragon 
burst  asunder.  The  furious  populace  demanded  that 
Daniel  should  be  thrown  into  the  lions'  den.  He 
remained  unharmed,  and  was  finally  restored  to  favour. 

The  stories  are  full  of  anachronisms  and  extravagances, 
and  evidently  are  merely  folk-lore  adapted  as  a  vehicle 
of  religious  instruction.  The  motive  is  sufficiently 
obvious.  Like  the  Epistle  of  Jeremy,  they  are  an 
attack  on  idolatry,  and  probably  belong  to  the  same 
period — the  first  century  B.C. 

OTHER   ADDITIONS   TO   THE   CANONICAL 
BOOKS 

Besides  the  passages  inserted  in  Daniel,  already 
mentioned,  there  are  other  additions  to  the  canonical 
books  which,  though  they  cannot  be  described  as 
legendary,  may  be  conveniently  dealt  with  in  this 
connection. 

The  Song  of  the  Three  Children,  or  "  The  Prayer 
of  Azarias,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  an  addition 
of  sixty-eight  verses,  inserted  by  the  Septuagint  after 
Daniel  iii.  23.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts:  (i)  the 
prayer  of  Azarias  (vers.  1-22);  (2)  a  continuation  of  the 
narrative  in  Daniel  iii.  23,  describing  how  the  king's 
servants  kept  on  heating  the  fiery  furnace  with  naphtha 


56        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

and  pitch,  and  how  an  angel  came  down  and  formed 
an  inner  zone  within  the  furnace  which  the  flames  could 
not  reach  (vers.  23-27);  (3)  the  thanksgiving  song  of 
the  three  martyrs  (vers.  28-68).  It  is  probable  that 
the  document  is  the  work  of  more  than  one  writer. 
Whether  it  was  originally  composed  in  Hebrew  or 
Greek  is  a  matter  of  dispute. 

The  Rest  of  Esther. — This  document  contains  six 
chapters  of  additional  material  which  was  inserted  in 
the  Book  of  Esther  by  the  Septuagint.  The  English 
Apocrypha,  following  the  Vulgate,  has  collected  the 
added  parts  into  a  separate  whole.  In  the  Septuagint 
they  are  scattered  about  in  different  places  of  the  book. 
Thus — 

Chap.  X.  4-xi.  i  forms  the  conclusion  of  the  Septua- 
gint Esther. 

Chap.  xi.  2-xii.  6  forms  its  commencement. 

Chap.  xiii.  1-7  is  placed  after  iii.  13. 

Chap.  xiii.  8-xiv.  19  is  placed  after  iv.  17. 

Chap.  XV.  is  substituted  for  v.  1-3. 

Chap.  xvi.  is  placed  after  viii.  12. 

The  object  of  the  addition  was  twofold:  (i)  partly 
to  expand  the  narrative  by  the  addition  of  new  material, 
(2)  partly  to  give  a  religious  tone  to  the  book.  In  the 
canonical  Book  of  Esther  the  name  of  God  never  occurs, 
and  the  religious  interest  is  very  slight.  In  the  addi- 
tional parts  the  religious  note   is  very   emphatic.      To 


THE    APOCRYPHAL    ADDITIONS     57 

take  one  instance.  Observe  the  frequent  introduction 
of  the  Divine  name  in  chap.  x.  9  :  "  Israel  which  cried 
to  God  and  were  saved ;  for  the  Lord  hath  saved  his 
people,  and  the  Lord  hath  delivered  us  from  all  those 
evils,  and  God  hath  wrought  great  signs  and  wonders." 

The  Prayer  of  Manasseh. — The  explanation  of  this 
addition  is  to  be  found  in  the  statement  in  2  Chron. 
xxxiii.  18,  19 :  "  Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Manasseh, 
and  his  prayer  unto  his  God  .  .  .  behold  they  are 
written  in  the  acts  of  the  kings  of  Israel.  His  prayer 
also,  and  how  God  was  intreated  of  him  .  .  .  behold 
they  are  written  in  the  history  of  Hozai "  (or  the  seers). 
The  prayer  of  Manasseh,  therefore,  is  an  attempt 
to  supply  an  omission  on  the  part  of  the  writer  of 
Chronicles.  There  is  no  justification  for  regarding  the 
prayer  as  genuine.  Everything  points  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  an  imaginative  composition,  and  the  work  of  a 
Hellenistic  Jew.  It  is  generally  found  appended  to  the 
Book  of  Psalms. 


CHAPTER   VI 

PROPHETIC   WRITINGS 

THE    BOOK   OF    BARUCH 

The  Book  of  Baruch  has  most  affinities  with  the  type 
of  prophecy  represented  by  Jeremiah,  with  which  it  is 
closely  associated  in  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate. 

Contents. — The  Book  of  Baruch  is  not  a  unity.  It 
consists  of  two,  perhaps  three,  quite  distinct  documents . 
(i)  The  preface  (chap.  i.  1-14).  (2)  The  first  part,  con- 
taining a  confession  of  sin,  and  prayer  for  restoration  to 
Divine  favour  (chaps,  i.  15-iii.  8).  (3)  The  second  part, 
containing  a  discourse  of  encouragement  to  the  Jews  of 
the  Diaspora  (chaps,  iii.  9-v.  9). 

The  Preface  gives  what  purports  to  be  a  historical 
introduction  to  the  book.  The  scene  is  laid  at  Babylon, 
in  the  fifth  year  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by 
the  Chaldaeans.  Baruch,  the  author,  reads  his  work  to 
Jehoiachin  and  his  court,  who  at  once  determine  to 
send  it  to  Jerusalem.  They  also  collect  money  that 
the    Jews    at    Jerusalem    may    purchase    sacrifices    to 

offer  on  behalf  of  the  King  of  Babylon.     The  preface 

58 


BARUCH  59 


is  highly  artificial,  and  does  not  fit  the  contents  of  either 
of  the  documents  which  follow,  though  some  scholars 
think  that  it  may  possibly  have  originally  been  the  in- 
troduction to  the  second  document. 

The  First  Document  appears  to  contain  two  distinct 
confessions  of  sin,  and  a  prayer  for  restoration :  {a)  an 
ancient  form  of  confession  used  by  the  Palestinian  rem- 
nant (chaps,  i.  15-ii.  5);  {b)  the  exiles'  confession 
(chap,  ii,  6-13);  {c)  the  exiles'  prayer  (chaps,  ii.  14- 
iii.  8).  The  style  of  the  document  resembles  that  of 
Deuteronomy  and  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah. 

The  Second  Document  may  be  divided  into  two 
parts  :  {a)  A  passage  in  praise  of  wisdom,  identifying 
wisdom  with  the  Law  (chaps,  iii.  9-iv.  4).  This  passage 
possesses  many  characteristics  of  the  descriptions  of 
wisdom  found  in  the  Wisdom  Literature,  {b)  A  dis- 
course containing  words  of  comfort  and  encouragement 
to  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  resembling  in  many  par- 
ticulars some  of  the  poetical  passages  in  Deuteronomy, 
Isaiah,  and  Job.  Whether  these  two  sections  are 
separate  entities  is  a  matter  of  debate  amongst  scholars. 
It  is  quite  easy  to  regard  them  as  parts  of  a  single 
document,  the  first  section  showing  that  the  calamities 
which  have  befallen  the  people  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  have  deserted  the  fountain  of  wisdom,  the  second 
consoling  them  with  promises  of  future  restoration. 

The  Date  of  Baruch. — From  what  has  already  been 


6o       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

said  it  is  clear  that  we  are  concerned  with  at  least 
two  documents,  each  of  which  must  be  dealt  with 
separately.  It  will  be  simpler  to  deal  with  the  second 
document  first,  because  modern  opinion  is  much  more 
unanimous  with  regard  to  its  date  than  it  is  in  the  case 
of  the  document  which  forms  the  first  half  of  the  book. 
There  is  a  general  agreement  amongst  recent  critics  that 
this  document  cannot  be  placed  earlier  than  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70.  This  result  seems  to  be 
decisively  established  by  the  fact  that  the  author  used 
the  Psalms  of  Solomon  (especially  Ps.  xi.).  The  Psalms 
of  Solomon  date  from  70-40  B.C.,  and  it  was  probably 
not  till  after  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era 
that  a  Greek  translation  of  them  was  published.  This 
being  so,  we  are  bound  to  place  our  document  in  the 
first  century  a.d.,  and  there  is  no  historical  situation 
suited  to  its  contents,  till  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem. 

There  is  much  more  diversity  of  opinion  with  regard 
to  the  date  of  the  first  document.  Leaving  out  of  ac- 
count the  impossible  theory  which  regards  the  document 
as  belonging  to  the  historical  situation  described  in  the 
Preface  {i.e.  583  B.C.),  the  following  views  find  favour, in 
different  schools  of  criticism  to-day  :  (i)  some  scholars, 
following  Ewald,  place  the  document  in  the  period 
following  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Ptolemy  L  in 
320  B.C. ;  (2)  others  place  it  in  the  Maccabsean  period. 


BARUCH  6i 


160-140  B.C.  :  (3)  Others  regard  it  as  belonging  to  the 
same  age  as  the  second  document^  i.e.  the  period  subse- 
quent to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70.  The 
only  datum  that  seems  to  help  us  in  arriving  at  a  de- 
finite conclusion  in  the  undoubted  connection  between 
chaps,  i.  15-ii.  12,  and  Daniel  ix.  4-19.  The  fact  that 
Baruch  seems  deliberately  to  omit  three  references 
in  Daniel  to  the  desolation  of  Jerusalem  which  would 
have  been  particularly  appropriate  if  the  book  were 
written  after  a.d.  70,  militates  against  the  third  theory. 
Those  who  accept  320  B.C.  as  the  date,  have  to  resort 
to  the  hypothesis  that  Baruch  and  Daniel  are  embodying 
a  common  tradition,  in  order  to  explain  the  resemblances 
between  the  two.  On  the  whole  the  second  view  seems 
to  present  least  difficulty,  and  we  may  place  the  docu- 
ment in  the  period  between  150  B.C.  and  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era. 

The  Religious  Outlook  of  Baruch. — There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  Baruch  was  compiled  in  its  present 
form  by  a  devout  Jew  in  the  last  decades  of  the  first 
century  a.d.  for  the  purpose  of  consoling  and  comforting 
his  people  for  the  loss  of  their  city.  It  is  contempora- 
neous, therefore,  with  a  large  part  of  our  New  Testament, 
and  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  one  type  of  Jewish 
thought  during  this  important  period.  We  notice  in 
reading  the  book:  (i)  the  writer's  firm  confidence  in 
God  and  in  the  divine  promises  to  Israel;  (2)  his  pride 


62        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

in  his  religion — "God  hath  found  out  all  the  way  of 
knowledge  and  given  it  unto  Israel  his  beloved" 
(chap.  iii.  36) ;  (3)  his  anti-Gentile  prejudices — "  Give  not 
thine  honour  to  another,  nor  the  things  that  are  profitable 
unto  thee  to  a  strange  nation" — a  statement  which 
helps  us  to  understand  the  opposition  of  the  Judaisers 
to  St.  Paul ;  (4)  his  devotion  to  the  Law,  which  he  regards 
as  the  expression  of  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  so  of 
eternal  value  (chap.  iv.  1-3);  (5)  that  the  writer  never 
advances  upon  the  position  of  the  prophets.  He  lives 
in  the  spiritual  world  of  Deuteronomy,  Jeremiah,  and 
Deutero-Isaiah.  This  is  especially  noticeable  in  the 
absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  future  life. 

THE  SECOND  BOOK  OF  ESDRAS 

The  second  book  of  Esdras  (sometimes  called 
IV.  Ezra)  is  by  common  consent  one  of  the  most 
important  books  in  the  Apocrypha.  It  occupies  the 
same  place  in  the  Apocrypha  as  the  Book  of  Revelation 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  the  only  specimen  of 
apocalyptic  (as  distinct  from  prophetic)  literature  in  it. 
The  wide  popularity  which  it  enjoyed  in  ancient  times 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  versions  of  it  are  found  in 
Latin,  Armenian,  Syriac,  /Ethiopic,  and  Arabic.  The 
Hebrew  and  Greek  originals  have  been  lost.  The  Latin 
text  from  which  the  Authorised  Version  was  translated 


1 1.    E  S  D  R  A  S  63 

is  imperfect,  and  lacks  an  important  section,  which  has 
been  torn  out  between  the  35th  and  36th  verses  of 
chap.  vii.  The  missing  fragment,  however,  has  been 
recovered  by  the  discovery,  made  by  Professor  Bensly  in 
1875,  of  an  unmutilated  MS.  at  Amiens. 

Contents. — The  version  of  II.  Esdras  in  our  Apo- 
crypha contains  the  original  book  in  a  Christian  frame. 
The  first  two  and  the  last  two  chapters  are  a  later 
addition,  and  were  attached  to  the  book  to  make 
it  suitable  for  use  amongst  Christians.  The  original 
book,  as  we  know  from  the  versions,  comprised  only 
chaps,  iii.-xiv.  It  is  generally  divided  into  seven  parts, 
answering  to  the  seven  visions  which  it  describes, 
(i)  The  first  vision  {Qh<iT^s.  iii.  i-v.  20).  Esdras,  perplexed 
by  the  problem  of  the  sufferings  of  his  own  people  and 
the  prosperity  of  their  enemies,  asks  God  for  an  ex- 
planation. The  angel  Uriel  is  sent  to  him,  and  tells  him 
that  he  must  not  inquire  into  things  which  only  God 
can  understand.  (2)  The  second  vision  (chaps,  v.  14— 
vi.  63).  After  seven  days  Esdras,  dissatisfied  with  Uriel's 
words,  appeals  to  God  a  second  time.  Uriel  reappears, 
and  tries  to  console  him  by  pointing  out  the  weakness 
of  man's  judgment  and  the  approach  of  the  Day  of 
the  Lord,  when  all  will  be  set  right.  (3)  The  third 
vision  (chaps,  vi.  35-ix.  35),  contains  a  further  discussion 
between  Esdras  and  Uriel,  more  particularly  on  the 
question  whether  few  or  many  should  be  saved.     Uriel 


64       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

replies  that  the  number  of  the  elect  is  small.  The 
main  point  in  the  vision  is  the  vivid  picture  of  the 
final  judgment  and  the  future  state  of  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked.  (4)  The  fourth  vision  (chaps,  ix.  25-x.  59). 
On  the  plain  of  Ardat  Esdras  meets  a  mourning  woman 
who  has  just  lost  her  only  son.  He  tries  to  comfort  her 
by  referring  to  the  greater  desolation  of  Jerusalem.  She 
suddenly  vanishes  and  Esdras  beholds  a  city.  Uriel 
returns  and  tells  him  that  the  woman  represented 
Jerusalem.  (5)  The  fifth  vision  (chaps,  xi.  i-xii.  39). 
Esdras  sees  in  a  dream  the  vision  of  an  eagle  with  three 
heads,  twelve  wings,  &c.,  which  is  destroyed  by  a  lion. 
The  eagle,  he  is  told,  represents  the  fourth  kingdom 
seen  by  Daniel,  and  the  lion  is  the  Messiah.  (6)  The 
sixth  vision  (chaps,  xii.  40-xiii.  58).  A  further  vision  of 
the  Messiah,  who  destroys  his  foes  and  sets  up  his 
kingdom  on  earth.  (7)  The  seventh  vision  (chap.  xiv.). 
Esdras  is  warned  that  he  is  soon  to  be  translated  from 
the  earth.  He  pleads  for  his  people,  who  will  be  left 
without  a  teacher.  He  is  told  to  write,  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  angel  dictates  ninety-four  books — ■ 
twenty-four  of  which  were  to  be  published  {i.e.  the 
Old  Testament),  and  the  remaining  seventy  hidden  for 
the  use  of  the  wise  {i.e.  the  Apocryphal  writings). 

The  Date  of  II.  Esdras. — There  is  a  general  agree- 
ment amongst  modern  scholars  that  II.  Esdras  was 
written     in     the     reign     of    Domitian     (a.d.     81-96). 


11.    ESDRAS  65 


This  conclusion  is  based  upon  the  following  data : 
(i)  The  book  must  be  later  than  Daniel  (168  B.C.), 
which  it  mentions,  and  earlier  than  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria (a.d.  200),  who  is  the  first  Christian  writer  to 
quote  from  it.  (2)  The  author  himself  says  that  he 
wrote  "in  the  thirtieth  year  after  the  ruin  of  the  city" 
(chap.  iii.  i).  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  "the  ruin 
of  the  city  "  refers  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in 
A.D.  70.  (3)  This  date  affords  the  simplest  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Eagle  vision.  The  eagle  represents  Rome, 
and  the  three  heads  are  the  three  emperors,  Vespasian, 
Titus,  and  Domitian.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that 
some  modern  scholars  (among  them  Charles)  hold  that 
II.  Esdras  is  a  composite  work,  made  out  of  five  earlier 
Apocalypses,  ranging  in  date  from  20  B.C.  to  a.d.  100. 
These  documents  were  combined  by  a  redactor  about 
A.D.  120. 

The  Problem  of  the  Book. — II.  Esdras  presents  a 
striking  contrast  to  Baruch,  the  bulk  of  which  belongs 
to  the  same  period.  The  author  of  Baruch  is  a  man  of 
simple  faith,  whose  confidence  in  God  remains  unshaken 
by  the  destruction  of  the  city.  He  is  content  with  a 
simple  explanation  of  the  disaster.  It  is  due  to  Israel's 
sin,  and  Israel's  repentance  will  lead  to  restoration. 
Esdras,  however,  is  not  so  easily  satisfied.  The  Jews 
were  not  the  only  sinners.  "  Are  they  of  Babylon  better 
than   they   of  Sion  ?      Why   has   God    destroyed    His 


66       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

people  and  preserved  His  enemies?"  (chap.  iii.  30,  31). 
II.  Esdras,  therefore,  is  a  problem  book,  and  deals  with 
the  old  enigma,  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  Book  of 
Job,  and  which  rent  the  heart  of  the  apostle  Paul 
(Rom.  ix.-xi.) :  "Why  hath  God  cast  off  His  people?" 
It  cannot  be  said  that  the  book  discovers  a  real  solution 
for  the  difficulty.  It  does,  however,  suggest  some  lines 
of  thought  in  which  comfort  can  be  found.  Perhaps  its 
greatest  contribution  is  its  frank  admission  that  no 
single  formula  meets  the  case.  We  must  look  in  many 
directions  for  our  solution  of  the  problem,  (i)  We  must 
remember  our  own  limitations,  and  that  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  understand  the  inscrutable  dealings  of  Provi- 
dence. (2)  We  must  trust  in  the  boundless  love  of  God, 
"  Lovest  thou  the  people  better  than  He  that  made 
them  ? "  (chap.  v.  33).  (3)  This  world  is  not  the  end 
of  things.  The  future  life  will  make  amends  for  present 
suffering.  (4)  The  day  of  God's  Redemption  is  draw- 
ing near,  when  the  Messiah  will  come  and  restore  the 
kingdom.  On  the  whole,  in  spite  of  its  pessimistic  tone, 
II.  Esdras  is  undoubtedly  the  finest  discussion  of  the 
problem  of  evil  in  the  whole  range  of  Jewish  literature. 

Value  of  II.  Esdras  for  Theology. — Apart  from  the 
main  problem  of  the  book,  II.  Esdras  has  many  points 
of  interest  for  modern  theology,  (i)  It  lays  great  stress 
on  the  doctrine  of  original  sin.  "  The  first  Adam  trans- 
gressed and  was  overcome,  and  so  be  all  they  that  are 


II.    ESDRAS  67 


bom  of  him"  (chap.  iii.  21).  (2)  It  has  a  developed 
doctrine  of  the  future  life.  All  the  dead  will  arise  either 
to  bliss  or  woe.  The  reward  of  the  good,  and  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked,  are  sevenfold  (chap.  vii.). 
{3)  It  has  a  firm  belief  in  the  advent  of  a  Messiah,  who 
will  reign  for  400  years  and  establish  the  kingdom  of 
God.  (4)  A  man's  future  destiny  is  fixed  by  this  life, 
and  cannot  be  changed  after  death.  Prayers  for  the 
dead,  therefore,  are  useless.  (5)  It  links  together  faith 
and  works  in  a  way  which  shows  that  the  discussion  on 
the  subject  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  James 
was  familiar  to  the  Jewish  schools.  (6)  It  attaches  more 
importance  to  the  Apocryphal  books  than  to  the  Old 
Testament. 

The  Christian  Framework  of  the  Book. — The  date 
of  the  concluding  chapters,  xv.  and  xvi.,  is  placed  about 
A.D.  268  by  most  modern  critics.  Chap.  xv.  10-12 
refers  to  the  troubles  of  Alexandria  under  Gallienus 
(a.d.  260-268);  chap.  XV.  28-33  to  the  conquests  of 
the  Sassinidse  (especially  Sapor  I.,  a.d.  240-273);  chap. 
XV.  33  describes  the  murder  of  Odenathus  at  Emesa 
(a.d.  266).  The  date  of  the  opening  chapters  cannot 
be  fixed  with  such  precision,  but  probably  belonged  to 
the  same  period. 


68       THE    APOCRYPHAL   BOOKS 

THE   EPISTLE   OF   JEREMY 

The  Epistle  of  Jeremy  is  a  separate  fragment  in  the 
Greek  version  of  the  Apocrypha,  but  in  the  Vulgate  and 
other  Latin  MSS.  is  attached  to  the  Book  of  Baruch, 
of  which  it  forms  the  sixth  chapter.  It  purports  to  be 
a  letter  written  by  Jeremiah  to  the  exiles  in  Babylon, 
to  warn  them  against  idolatry.  This  claim,  however, 
is  quite  out  of  the  question  for  several  reasons,  (i)  The 
Epistle  is  written  in  Greek,  and  shows  no  signs  of  having 
been  translated  from  Hebrew.  (2)  Its  style  and  general 
thought  are  quite  unworthy  of  Jeremiah.  (3)  Its  state- 
ment that  the  captivity  would  last  for  seven  generations 
points  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  work  of  a  later  writer. 
We  have  very  little  evidence  to  guide  us  in  determining 
its  data  and  origin.  Many  scholars  think  that  there  is 
an  allusion  to  it  in  II.  Maccabees  ii.  2:  "Jeremiah 
charged  the  exiles  not  ...  to  be  led  astray  in  their 
minds  when  they  saw  images  of  gold  and  silver."  If 
this  is  so,  we  may  surmise  that  the  fragment  originated 
in  Alexandria  in  the  first  century  B.C.  It  affords  us  an 
excellent  illustration  of  the  temptations  to  which  the 
Jews  of  the  Diaspora  were  subjected,  and  so  throws  light 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  the  question 
of  "eating  meat  offered  to  idols." 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   WIDER   APOCRYPHA 

In  addition  to  the  Apocrypha  proper,  there  are  many 
other  Jewish  writings,  belonging  practically  to  the  same 
period,  which  have  never  claimed  to  be  regarded  as 
Scripture,  though  they  were  held  in  high  value  by  large 
circles  of  Christians  in  early  times.  In  all  probability, 
if  the  process,  by  which  the  Old  Testament  was  evolved, 
had  been  continued,  they  too  would  eventually  have 
obtained  a  place  in  the  Canon.  Two  of  them,  at  any 
rate,  III.  and  IV.  Maccabees,  are  actually  found  in  one 
of  the  most  valuable  MSS.  of  the  Septuagint. 

The  most  important  books  of  the  wider  Apocrypha 
may  be  classified  as  follows  : — 

1.  Historical. — III.  and  IV.  Maccabees.     The  latter, 

however,  as  will  be  explained,  though  purporting 
to  be  historical,  is  really  a  philosophical  discourse. 

2.  Podry. — The  Psalms  of  Solomon. 

3.  Apocalyptic  Literature. — The  Book  of  Enoch ;  the 

Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch ;  the  Apocalypse 

of    Baruch ;    the    Assumption    of   Moses ;    the 
69 


70       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Book  of  Jubilees ;  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah ; 
the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs. 

It  will  be  observed  from  this  list  that  the  Apocalyptic 
writings  occupy  the  largest  and  most  important  place 
in  the  wider  Apocrypha.  A  few  words  must  be  said 
with  regard  to  the  character  of  these  books. 

The  Meaning  of  "  Apocalyptic." — The  word  Apoca- 
lyptic is,  of  course,  an  adjective  formed  from  the  noun 
"Apocalypse,"  and  so  means  "of  the  nature  of"  or 
"belonging  to"  an  Apocalypse.  "Apocalypse"  itself 
is  the  Greek  equivalent  of  the  better-known  Latin  form 
"  Revelation."  Thus,  we  speak  of  the  last  book  in  the 
New  Testament  as  "the  Revelation"  or  "the  Apoca- 
lypse" of  St.  John.  What  the  Book  of  Revelation  is 
to  the  New  Testament  the  Jewish  Apocalypses  are  to 
Apocryphal  literature.  The  Apocalypses  claim  to  give 
a  vision  of  the  future.  They  are  a  peculiarity,  as  far  as 
their  form  goes,  of  Jewish  literature.  There  is  nothing 
exactly  like  them  elsewhere.  The  nearest  approach 
is  to  be  found  in  books  like  Plato's  "Republic"  or 
Sir  Thomas  More's  "  Utopia,"  which  contain  a  dream  of 
an  ideal  state.  No  one,  however,  who  reads  "  Utopia  " 
and  the  Jewish  Apocalypses  side  by  side  would  think 
of  classing  them  together,  because  in  form  and  style 
they  are  utterly  dissimilar. 

The  Origin  of  Apocalyptic  Literature. — There  are 
elements  of   Apocalyptic   in  some   of  the  later  Jewish 


THE    WIDER    APOCRYPHA         71 

prophets,  notably  in  Ezekiel.  In  Daniel,  of  course, 
the  Apocalyptic  element  is  very  marked.  It  may  be 
said  that  Daniel  started  a  new  fashion  in  literature,  and 
between  his  day  and  a.d.  100,  Apocalyptic  became  the 
popular  mode  of  conveying  religious  teaching.  There 
was,  however,  a  stronger  reason  for  the  adoption  of  the 
new  mode  than  the  desire  to  copy  Daniel.  "Apoca- 
lyptic" appealed  to  writers  and  teachers  because  it 
seemed  to  be  the  most  appropriate  vehicle  for  expressing 
the  religious  aspirations  of  Israel.  Throughout  this 
period,  from  a  political  point  of  view,  the  Jewish  nation 
was  in  an  evil  plight.  The  hopes,  of  which  the  prophets 
had  spoken,  had  not  been  realised,  and  what  is  more, 
their  reahsation  now  seemed  quite  beyond  the  range 
of  possibiHty.  Palestine  had  fallen  under  the  sway  of 
one  foreign  power  after  another.  There  was  a  brief 
revival  of  hope  during  the  Maccabaean  age,  but  it  was 
short-lived;  and  when  at  last  Jerusalem  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Romans,  a  dark  despair  settled  upon  the 
people.  It  was  owing  to  these  disappointments,  and 
to  the  failure  of  the  promises  which  the  prophets  had 
given  to  Israel,  that  the  soul  of  the  nation  found  a  new 
outlet  for  its  faith  in  the  vision  of  a  millennial  future, 
an  era  of  blessedness  after  the  judgment-day.  The  new 
faith  found  its  expression  in  Apocalyptic  literature.  It 
must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  Apocalyptic 
writings  deal  solely  or  mainly  with  the  Millennium ;  many 


72        THE   APOCRYPHAL   BOOKS 

of  them  are  contented  with  making  an  attempt  to  find 
a  solution  for  the  problem,  which  continually  confronted 
them,  of  the  sufferings  of  Israel.  A  new  philosophy  of 
religion  was  needed,  and  in  one  way  or  another  all 
the  Apocalyptic  books  are  more  or  less  engaged  in  the 
effort  to  discover  it.  We  find,  therefore,  important 
discussions  on  such  questions  as  the  origin  of  sin,  the 
explanation  of  evil,  the  future  destiny,  &c. 

Importance  of  Apocalyptic  Literature. — In  certain 
circles  of  the  Jews,  Apocalyptic  was  regarded  as  of  even 
higher  value  than  the  Old  Testament  itself.  This  is 
clear  from  the  famous  passage  in  11.  Esdras  (chap.  xiv. 
42-48).  "  The  Highest  gave  understanding  to  five  men, 
and  they  wrote  the  wonderful  visions  of  the  night.  .  .  . 
In  forty  days  they  wrote  ninety-four  [some  texts  read 
204]  books,  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  forty  days 
were  fulfilled,  that  the  Highest  spake  saying  :  The  first 
that  thou  hast  written  [a  reference  to  the  Old  Testament] 
publish  openly,  that  the  worthy  and  the  unworthy  may 
read  it.  But  keep  the  seventy  last  [t.g.  the  Apocryphal 
books],  that  thou  mayest  deliver  them  only  to  such  as 
be  wise  among  the  people.  I^or  in  them  is  the  spring  of 
understandings  the  fountain  of  wisdom^  and  the  stream 
of  knowledge"  The  modern  value  of  the  literature 
cannot  be  better  stated  than  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Charles. 
"No  attempt  to  study  Christianity  in  its  origins  can 
dispense  with  a  knowledge  of  this  literature.     If  we  wish 


THE    WIDER    APOCRYPHA         73 

to  reconstruct  the  world  of  ideas  and  aspirations  which 
filled  the  heart  of  an  earnest  Jew  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era,  it  is  to  this  literature  that  we  must 
have  recourse  for  our  materials.  Although  in  its  higher 
aspects  Christianity  infinitely  transcends  the  Judaism 
that  preceded  it,  yet  in  others  it  is  a  genuine  historical 
development  from  such  Judaism.  Christianity  came 
forth  from  the  bosom  of  Pharisaic  Judaism,  and  in 
Apocalyptic  literature  this  form  of  Judaism  found  its 
essential  utterance.  .  .  .  Thus  Jewish  Apocalypses  not 
only  supply  a  history  of  religious  beliefs  in  the  two 
pre-Christian  centuries,  but  they  also  fill  up  the  other- 
wise unavoidable  gap  in  the  history  of  Jewish  thought, 
and  constitute  the  living  link  between  the  prophetic 
teachings  and  ideals  of  the  Old  Testament  and  their 
fulfilment  in  Christianity." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

APOCALYPTIC    LITERATURE 

THE   BOOK   OF   ENOCH 

The  Apocalypse  which  is  known  as  the  Book  of  Enoch 
is  not  a  single  book,  but  a  library  containing  at  least 
five  volumes,  written  by  different  authors  at  different 
periods  in  the  last  two  centuries  of  the  pre-Christian 
era.  It  is  not  difificult  to  see  why  it  was  that  a  whole 
literature  grew  up  around  the  name  of  Enoch.  The 
well-known  statement  in  Gen.  v.  24,  "  Enoch  walked  with 
God,"  suggested  that  the  favour  of  Divine  intercourse 
was  bestowed  upon  Enoch  in  an  unusual  degree,  and 
his  name,  therefore,  naturally  occurred  to  Apocalj^tic 
writers  as  a  fitting  medium  for  the  conveyance  of  their 
ideas.  The  importance  of  this  Enoch  literature  can 
scarcely  be  over-estimated.  There  is  hardly  a  book  in 
the  New  Testament  which  does  not  show  some  traces  of 
its  influence,  and  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  quotes  it  as 
Scripture. 

The  Contents  of  the  Book. — The   Book   of   Enoch 
has  been  divided   by    Dr.    Charles,    who   is   our  chief 


THE    BOOK    OF    ENOCH  75 

authority  on  Apocalyptic  literature,  into  five  parts. 
(i)  The  first  book^  comprising  chaps.  1-36,  was  written 
some  time  before  170  B.C.  Like  most  Apocalyptic 
writings,  this  book  deals  with  the  problem  of  evil. 
The  distinguishing  features  of  its  teaching  are :  {a)  Its 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  evil.  Sin  is  represented  as 
coming  into  the  world,  not  through  the  fall  of  Adam, 
but  through  the  lust  of  the  angels  for  the  daughters  of 
men  (Gen.  vi.  1-8).  {b)  Its  demonology.  The  present 
evil  in  the  world  is  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  the 
evil  spirits  which  went  forth  from  the  seed  of  the  fallen 
angels  and  the  daughters  of  men.  {c)  The  material 
character  of  the  future  Messianic  age.  The  Millennium 
is  described  as  a  time  of  sensuous  enjoyment.  (2)  The 
second  book,  from  a  chronological  point  of  view,  consists 
of  chaps.  83-90.  The  date  is  fixed  by  certain  allusions 
to  the  Maccabaean  rising  which  make  it  clear  that  the 
book  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Judas  (166-161  B.C.).  The 
explanation  of  evil  given  in  this  section  is  interesting 
and  original.  God  had  entrusted  Israel  to  the  charge 
of  seventy  shepherds  (angels).  These  shepherds  had 
proved  faithless  to  their  trust,  and  destroyed  those  whom 
they  ought  to  have  protected.  God  will,  however, 
require  vengeance,  and  then  Israel  will  be  restored.  A 
righteous  league  will  be  established  in  Israel,  and  in  it 
will  arise  a  family  from  which  the  deliverer  of  Israel 
(Judas  Maccabaeus)  will  come  forth.     (3)  The  third  book 


76       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

is  made  up  of  chaps.  91-104,  and  belongs  to  the  last 
quarter  of  the  first  century,  between  134  and  95  B.C.  Its 
author  is  clearly  a  member  of  the  Pharisaic  party,  and 
the  book  may  be  said  to  represent  the  views  of  the 
Pharisees  of  the  period.  He  finds  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  evil,  not  in  the  establishment  of  a  Messianic 
kingdom  on  earth,  nor  in  the  advent  of  a  great  deliverer, 
but  in  the  future  life.  He  "  calls  a  new  world  into 
being  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  old."  After  the 
final  judgment  the  righteous  will  be  raised  as  spirits  and 
enter  into  the  portals  of  the  new  heaven,  where  they  will 
become  companions  of  the  heavenly  hosts  and  shine  as 
the  stars  for  evermore.  The  wicked,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  doomed  to  eternal  punishment  in  the  Sheol  of  fire 
and  darkness.  (4)  The  fourth  book,  known  as  the 
"Similitudes"  (chaps.  37-70),  was  written  either  between 
94  and  79  B.C.  or  between  70  and  64  B.C.,  and  contains  a 
denunciation  of  the  later  Maccabsean  princes  and  their 
allies,  the  Sadducees.  Its  most  noticeable  features  are  : 
{a)  The  origin  of  sin  is  traced  one  stage  further  back. 
The  sinful  angels  of  the  first  book  are  represented  as 
sinning  owing  to  the  evil  influence  of  "  the  Satans." 
{b)  The  solution  of  the  problem  is  found  in  the  advent 
of  a  Messiah,  who  will  come  to  judge  the  earth,  inflict 
the  direst  punishment  on  sinners,  and  inaugurate  an  era 
of  righteousness.  This  is  the  most  remarkable  concep- 
tion in  the  book,  and  marks  the  climax  of  Messianic 


THE    BOOK    OF    ENOCH  77 

prophecy.  (5)  The  fifth  book,  or  the  "Book  of  Celestial 
Physics"  as  it  is  called,  consists  of  chaps.  72-82,  though 
the  order  of  the  chapters  has  been  disarranged  by  the 
compiler — chap.  79,  which  contains  the  conclusion  of 
the  book,  being  put  in  the  wrong  place.  Its  contents 
are  quite  unlike  anything  which  is  found  in  the  other 
sections.  It  is  an  attempt  to  establish  an  essentially 
Hebrew  calendar  in  preference  to  the  heathen  calendars 
which  were  then  in  vogue. 

The  Influence  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  on  New  Testa- 
ment Theology. — There  can  be  little  doubt  that  New 
Testament  theology  owes  a  very  considerable  debt  to 
the  Book  of  Enoch.  This  is  particularly  apparent  when 
we  compare  its  Messianic  conceptions  with  the  New 
Testament  interpretation  of  Christ.  The  Book  of  Enoch 
provided  a  large  number  of  the  categories  which  were 
used  for  explaining  the  person  of  Christ,  ia)  In  the 
Book  of  Enoch  the  term  "  Christ "  is  applied  for  the 
first  time  in  Jewish  literature  to  the  coming  Messianic 
king,  {b)  The  title  "  the  Son  of  Man  "  makes  its  first 
appearance  in  Enoch,  and  passes  from  Enoch  into  the 
New  Testament,  {c)  Two  other  titles  which  are  used 
in  Enoch  of  the  Messiah,  viz.  "  the  Righteous  One  "  and 
"  the  Elect  One,"  are  used  of  Christ  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment {cf.  Acts  iii.  14,  vii.  52).  id)  One  of  the  main 
functions  of  the  Messiah  in  Enoch  was  that  of  judgment, 
and  this  conception  is  almost   verbally  reproduced  in 


78       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

John  V.  2  2.  {e)  The  Messiah  is  depicted  as  "pre-exist- 
ing "  and  as  "  sitting  on  the  throne  of  His  glory  " — two 
ideas  which  are  also  familiar  to  readers  of  the  New 
Testament. 

THE  BOOK  OF  THE  SECRETS  OF  ENOCH 

The  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch  is  a  recent  dis- 
covery, for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  energy  and 
acumen  of  Dr.  Charles.  In  1892  a  statement  was  made 
by  a  student  of  Russian  Pseudepigraphic  literature, 
named  Kozak,  that  a  version  of  the  Book  of  Enoch 
existed  in  Slavonic.  As  the  Book  of  Enoch  had 
hitherto  only  been  known  in  the  ^thiopic  version. 
Dr.  Charles  at  once  caused  an  investigation  to  be 
made.  The  examination  which  was  instituted  resulted 
in  the  discovery  that  the  Slavonic  Enoch  differed  in  toto 
from  the  ^thiopic  edition,  and  represented  an  entirely 
new  work.  In  1896  Dr.  Charles  published  a  translation 
of  the  book,  with  introduction  and  commentary. 

Date  and  Authorship. — There  are  various  indications 
that  the  Slavonic  Enoch  was  originally  written  in  Greek, 
probably  at  Alexandria.  The  author  was  an  orthodox 
Hellenistic  Jew,  who,  however,  was  broad-minded 
enough  to  appreciate  and  assimilate  many  elements  in 
current  Greek  and  Egyptian  thought.  The  date  may  be 
fixed  approximately  by  the  following  considerations : 
The  fact  that  the  book  makes  use  of  the  yEthiopic 


THE    SECRETS    OF    ENOCH        79 

Enoch  in  its  present  form  proves  that  it  could  not 
have  been  written  earlier  than  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  era.  The  absence  of  any  reference  to 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  implication  that 
the  Temple  was  still  standing,  clearly  show  that  the 
book  must  have  been  published  before  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70.  "We  may  therefore,"  as  Dr. 
Charles  says,  "with  reasonable  certainty,  assign  the 
composition  of  our  text  to  the  period  a.d.  1-50." 

Contents  of  the  Book. — The  book  describes  the 
ascension  of  Enoch,  and  his  voyage  through  the  seven 
heavens.  In  the  first  heaven  Enoch  sees  a  great  sea, 
the  rulers  of  the  stars,  the  treasuries  of  the  snow,  the 
clouds,  and  the  dew,  and  their  guardian  angels.  In  the 
second  he  sees  the  fallen  angels  and  the  prisoners  await- 
ing eternal  judgment.  The  third  heaven  is  the  place 
of  Paradise,  which  is  prepared  as  an  eternal  inheritance 
for  those  "  who  turn  their  eyes  from  unrighteousness 
and  accomplish  a  righteous  judgment,  and  give  bread  to 
the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  raise  the  fallen."  On  the 
western  side  of  this  heaven  is  "  a  very  terrible  place  of 
savage  darkness  and  impenetrable  gloom,"  which  is 
reserved  as  an  eternal  inheritance  for  those  "  who  com- 
mit evil  deeds  upon  the  earth."  In  the  fourth  heaven 
Enoch  is  shown  the  courses  of  the  sun  and  the  moon 
and  "an  armed  host  of  angels  serving  the  Lord  with 
cymbals."     The  fifth  heaven  is  the  prison-house  of  the 


So       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

angels  who  had  rebelled  and  committed  sin  with  the 
daughters  of  men.  The  sixth  heaven  is  the  abode  of 
the  angels  who  regulate  the  powers  of  nature  and  record 
the  deeds  of  men.  Finally,  in  the  seventh  heaven, 
Enoch  sees  God  sitting  on  His  throne  surrounded  by 
the  heavenly  hosts.  The  remainder  of  the  book  is 
occupied  with  a  description  of  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  a  prophecy  of  the  Millennium. 

The  Religious  Value  of  the  Book. — The  ^Slavonic 
Enoch  is  valuable  because  it  helps  to  explain  the  origin 
of  several  conceptions  which  played  an  important  part 
in  later  Christian  theology. 

(i)  The  idea  of  the  Millennium  is  first  found  in  this 
book.  The  conception  is  derived  from  the  story  of 
the  creation.  God  created  the  world  in  six  days  and 
rested  on  the  seventh.  One  day  is  to  God  as  a 
thousand  years.  The  world  will  last,  therefore,  for  six 
thousand  years,  and  then  will  come  a  Millennium  of 
one  thousand  years. 

(2)  The  book  helps  to  explain  many  allusions  to  the 
heavens  in  the  New  Testament,  especially  in  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Paul.  When  Paul  speaks,  for  instance,  of  being 
caught  up  to  "the  third  heaven"  (II.  Cor.  xii.  2),  it  is 
quite  clear  that  he  is  familiar  with  the  conception  of 
the  heavens  in  the  Secrets  of  Enoch.  The  agreement 
seems  to  extend  even  to  details,  for  both  Paul  and  the 
author  of  Enoch  locate  Paradise  in  "the  third  heaven." 


THE   APOCALYPSE   OF    BARUCH     8i 

Paul's  description  of  Satan  as  "  the  prince  of  the  power 
of  the  air"  (Eph.  ii.  2)  is  unintelligible  without  the 
explanation  of  Enoch  that  Satan  was  driven  out  of 
the  heavens  and  given  the  air  as  his  domain.  In  the 
same  way  such  statements  as  Col.  i.  20,  "to  reconcile 
all  things  unto  Himself,  whether  things  upon  earth  or 
things  in  the  heavens,"  and  Eph.  iv.  10,  "  He  ascended 
far  above  all  the  heavens,"  can  only  be  explained  by 
supposing  that  Paul  accepted  the  scheme  of  heavens 
described  by  the  author  of  the  Slavonic  Enoch. 


THE  APOCALYPSE   OF   BARUCH 

The  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  is  also  a  comparatively 
recent  discovery.  We  owe  it  to  an  Italian  scholar, 
named  Ceriani,  who  found  a  Syriac  version  of  the  book 
in  the  Milan  Library  and  published  a  Latin  translation 
of  it  in  1866.  The  Syriac  version  was  translated  from 
the  Greek,  which  in  its  turn  was  derived  from  a  Hebrew 
original,  so  that  we  only  know  the  real  Apocalypse  at 
third  hand. 

Contents  of  the  Book. — The  name  Baruch  is  of 
course  assumed  by  the  author  or  editor  of  the  book, 
in  accordance  with  the  customary  usage  of  Apocalyptic 
writers,  who  always  father  their  productions  upon  some 
well-known  figure  in  the  history  of  Israel.  The  scene 
is  laid  in  Jerusalem,  during  the  period  preceding  and 


82        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

following  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Chaldseans. 
The  writer  makes  a  careless  blunder  in  connection  with 
his  fictitious  background.  He  dates  the  book  in  the 
"  twenty -fifth  year  of  Jeconiah,"  who,  however,  only 
reigned  three  months,  and  was  carried  captive  to  Babylon 
eleven  years  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  The  truth 
is  that  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  is  really  dealing 
with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70,  and,  instead 
of  using  contemporary  figures  and  names,  clothes  the 
story  in  all  the  imagery  of  ancient  history.  The  book 
divides  itself  into  seven  sections.  In  the  first  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  is  announced,  but  Baruch  is  comforted  by 
the  promise  that  the  overthrow  of  Israel  will  only  be 
"for  a  season."  In  the  second  the  destruction  of  the 
city  is  described.  The  overthrow  is  depicted  as  the 
work  of  angels  and  not  of  the  Chaldaeans.  The  third 
section  contains  Baruch's  complaint  to  God,  and  raises 
the  old  problem — which  is  the  theme  of  the  second  Book 
of  Esdras — as  to  the  explanation  of  evil.  The  fourth 
contains  the  promise  that  the  future  world  is  made  in 
the  interests  of  the  righteous,  and  states  "  that  the 
blessings  of  life  are  to  be  reckoned  not  by  its  length 
but  by  its  quality  and  its  end."  In  the  fifth  Baruch 
complains  of  the  delay  in  the  advent  of  the  kingdom, 
and  receives  the  explanation  that  the  predestined  number 
of  men  must  be  made  up  before  the  day  of  the  Lord 
can  come.     As  soon  as  the  number  is  complete,  the 


THE    APOCALYPSE    OF   BARUCH     83 

Messiah  will  appear.  The  sixth  gives  the  vision  of  the 
cedar  and  the  vine,  which  symbolise  the  Roman  Empire 
and  the  triumph  of  the  Messiah.  When  Baruch  asks 
who  will  share  in  the  future  glory,  the  answer  is  given, 
"Those  who  believe."  In  the  last  sectioji  the  future 
course  of  history  is  described  in  the  form  of  the  vision 
of  a  cloud  which  discharged  "  black  waters  and  clear." 
The  six  "  black  waters  "  denote  six  evil  periods  in  the 
world's  history,  and  the  "  six  clear  waters  "  a  correspond- 
ing number  of  good  periods.  It  is  in  this  section  that 
the  writer's  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is 
developed. 

The  Date  of  the  Book. — The  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  is 
not  a  unity  but  a  compilation  of  several  documents. 
This  is  proved  by  the  diversity  of  tone  and  outlook  which 
we  find  in  different  parts  of  the  book.  Some  sections,  as 
Dr.  Charles  says,  "  agree  in  presenting  an  optimistic  view 
of  Israel's  future  on  earth  and  in  inculcating  the  hope  of 
a  Messianic  kingdom,"  whereas  in  others  "  such  expec- 
tations are  absolutely  abandoned,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
righteous  are  directed  to  the  immediate  advent  of  the 
final  judgment  and  the  spiritual  world  alone."  Dr. 
Charles  thinks  that  the  various  documents,  out  of  which 
the  Apocalypse  was  compiled,  were  written  at  different 
points  in  the  period  which  preceded  and  followed  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  i.e.  between  a.d.  50  and  100, 
and  that  the  Apocalypse  in  its  present  form  was  com- 


84       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

posed  a  little  later,  certainly  before  a.d.  130.  All  the 
authors  were  Pharisees,  "  full  of  confidence  in  the  future 
glories  of  their  nation,  either  in  this  world  or  the  next." 
The  Theological  Value  of  the  Book. — The  Apocalypse 
of  Baruch  is  of  exceptional  interest  to  us  because  it 
affords  us  a  clear  illustration  of  Jewish  thought  in  the 
last  half  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
shows  us  the  sort  of  literature  which  the  Apostle  Paul 
would  probably  have  produced  if  he  had  not  become  a 
Christian.  The  measure  of  the  difference  between  the 
Apocalypse  of  Baruch  and  the  Epistles  of  Paul  is  the 
measure  of  the  influence  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
book  enables  us  to  see,  too,  what  exactly  Pauline 
theology  owes  to  Judaism,  and  how  Paul  has  purified 
and  christianised  the  Jewish  elements  which  he  in- 
corporated into  his  new  philosophy  of  religion.  Among 
the  more  interesting  points  connected  with  the  theology 
of  the  book — (i)  The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  is  emphatically  affirmed.  In  answer  to 
the  question,  "  In  what  shape  will  those  live  who  live 
in  thy  day  ? "  the  statement  is  made,  "  The  earth  will 
assuredly  restore  the  dead  .  .  .  making  no  change 
in  their  form,  but  as  it  has  received,  so  will  it  restore 
them  ...  to  show  to  the  living  that  the  dead  have 
come  to  life  again."  After  recognition,  however,  the 
form  of  the  body  will  be  changed.  "They  shall  be 
made  like  unto  angels,  and  changed  into  every  form  they 


THE    ASSUMPTION    OF    MOSES     85 

desire,  from  beauty  into  loveliness  and  from  light  into  the 
splendour  of  glory  "  (chaps,  xlix.-li.).  (2)  In  its  doctrine 
of  free  will  and  sin,  the  Apocalypse  represents  the  more 
liberal  form  of  Jewish  theology.  It  denies  altogether  the 
theory  of  original  sin  and  maintains,  that  "  every  man  is 
the  Adam  of  his  own  soul."  The  only  effect  upon 
mankind  of  Adam's  sin  was  the  introduction  of  physical 
death  into  the  world.  (3)  The  Apocalypse  strongly 
maintains  the  view  that  "  salvation  is  of  works."  The 
righteous  are  saved  by  their  works,  and  their  works  avail 
not  only  for  themselves,  they  are  a  defence  also  to  the 
unrighteous  among  whom  they  dwell,  and  even  after 
death  are  regarded  as  a  lasting  merit,  on  the  ground  of 
which  God  will  forgive  His  people. 


THE  ASSUMPTION   OF   MOSES 

This  Apocalypse  was  also,  like  Baruch,  discovered  by 
Ceriani  in  the  library  of  Milan  in  186 1.  It  exists  only 
in  a  single  Latin  fragment,  which  is  incomplete.  The 
Latin  version  contains  evidence  which  proves  that  it  was 
made  from  a  Greek  original,  which  came  itself  from  a 
Hebrew  autograph. 

Contents  of  the  Assumption. — The  book  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Moses,  who  is  on  the  point  of  death,  a 
summary  of  the  future  history  of  Israel  in  the  form  of 
prophecy.     The  story,  which  is  told  with  great  brevity, 


86       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

begins  with  the  work  of  Joshua  and  ends  with  the  rule 
of  the  sons  of  Herod  the  Great.  At  this  point  the 
writer  turns  to  the  future,  and  the  second  half  of  the  book 
gives  us  his  religious  and  political  outlook.  The  writer 
thinks  that  troublous  times  are  in  store  for  Israel. 
Tyrannical  and  impious  rulers  will  arise.  The  Jews  will 
be  persecuted  for  their  faith  by  "the  king  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth,"  who,  like  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  will  make 
circumcision  a  penal  offence.  A  second  Eleazar  will 
arise  who,  like  the  famous  martyr  of  the  Maccabaean  age, 
will  take  his  sons  into  the  wilderness  and  suffer  martyr- 
dom rather  than  transgress  the  Law.  Then  the  kingdom 
of  the  Lord  will  appear  on  earth,  and  God  Himself  will 
redeem  His  people  and  punish  its  Gentile  oppressors. 

Religious  Teaching  of  the  Book. — The  chief  interest 
of  the  Assumption  of  Moses  lies  in  its  general  point  of 
view  rather  than  in  its  opinions  on  the  details  of  Jewish 
theology.  It  raises  the  important  question  —  What 
ought  to  be  the  attitude  of  a  religious  Jew  towards  his 
persecutors  ?  The  Zealots  answered  the  question  by 
proclaiming  the  doctrine  of  resistance.  Force  must  be 
met  by  force  and  violence  by  violence.  "We  must 
emulate  the  example,"  they  said,  "  of  Judas  Maccabeus, 
who  raised  an  armed  force  and  defeated  the  oppressors." 
The  Assumption  of  Moses  is  a  protest  against  this  view. 
It  preaches  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance,  or  rather  of 
passive    resistance.      We    must   not   take    up   arms,    it 


THE    ASSUMPTION    OF    MOSES     87 

argues,  but  quietly  suffer  for  our  religion.  The  ideal 
attitude  is  not  that  of  Judas  Maccabaeus,  but  rather  that 
of  Eleazar,  the  great  martyr  of  the  Maccabsean  age.  It 
is  martyrdom  and  not  violence  that  will  usher  in  the 
Messianic  age.  The  Assumption  may  thus  be  termed 
the  manifesto  of  Jewish  Quietism. 

Date. — The  date  of  the  book  may  be  fixed  within 
narrow  limits.  It  takes  us  up  to  the  death  of  Herod 
the  Great  in  3  B.C.,  and  it  was  evidently  written  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  because  the  Temple  is 
still  standing.  But  we  can  reduce  these  limits  still 
further.  The  writer  speaks  of  Herod's  sons  in  a  way 
which  implies  that  the  book  was  written  before  the  end 
of  their  reign.  We  may  place  the  Assumption,  there- 
fore, between  a.d.  i  and  30.  This  fact  adds  greatly  to 
the  interest  of  the  book,  since  it  must  have  been  written 
during  the  actual  lifetime  of  Jesus. 

Value  of  the  Book  for  the  Study  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.— The  Assumption  throws  light  on  many  passages 
in  the  New  Testament,  (i)  There  are  several  phrases 
in  the  Epistle  of  Jude,  and  in  Stephen's  speech  as  re- 
corded in  Acts,  vii.,  which  can  only  be  understood  when 
compared  with  the  statements  of  this  book.  (2)  The 
writer's  vivid  description  of  the  ruling  classes  in  Palestine 
(the  Sadducees)  proves  that  others,  besides  Jesus,  felt 
acutely  the  degradation  into  which  the  government  of 
the  day  had  fallen.     He  speaks  of  the  rulers  as  "  scorn- 


88       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

ful  and  impious  men,  treacherous  self-pleasers,  dis- 
semblers, lovers  of  banquets,  gluttons,  gourmands, 
devourers  of  the  poor  .  .  .  filled  with  lawlessness  and 
iniquity  from  sunrise  to  sunset " — language  which  more 
than  corroborates  the  picture  which  is  drawn  of  these 
same  men  in  the  Gospel  narratives. 


CHAPTER    IX 

APOCALYPTIC    LITERATURE    {continued) 

THE    BOOK   OF  JUBILEES 

The  Book  of  Jubilees  was  first  published  in  modern 

times  in  the   form  of  a  German  translation    from    the 

Ethiopia  version  by  Dillmann  in  185 1.     A  Latin  version 

was  also  discovered  by  Ceriani  in  the  Milan  Library  a 

little  later,  and  printed  for  the  first  time  in  1861. 

Character  of  the  Book. — The  Book  of  Jubilees  is 

also  known  as  "the  little  Genesis."     This  second  title 

indicates  the  character  of  its  contents.     It  is  a  revised 

version  of  the  earlier  history  of  Israel,  from  the  creation 

of  the  world  down  to  the  institution   of  the  Passover 

(Exodus  xii.).     It  contains   the  narrative   of  the  Book 

of  Genesis,  re-written  from   the  point  of  view  of  later 

Judaism.     Just   as  the  author  of  Chronicles   modified 

the  historical  narrative  of  the  Books  of  Kings  to  suit  his 

own  religious  ideas,  so  the  writer  of  Jubilees  wrote  over 

again  the  story  of  the  patriarchal  age,   and  brought  it 

into  harmony  with  his  own  conceptions  of  what  ought 

to  have  happened  during  that  period.     The  title  "little 

89 


90       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Genesis "  is  given  to  the  book,  not  because  it  is  an 
abbreviation  of  our  canonical  Genesis  (for,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  is  of  greater  length),  but  to  show  that  it  is  of 
inferior  and  secondary  authority.  The  chief  modifica- 
tions which  the  writer  introduces  into  the  Biblical 
narrative  are  as  follows:  (i)  The  story  is  put  into  the 
mouth  of  "the  angel  of  the  face,"  who  is  represented  as 
telling  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai  the  part  which  the  angels 
had  played  in  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  history 
of  the  patriarchal  age.  (2)  The  writer  evinces  a  par- 
ticular interest  in  chronology.  He  divides  the  period 
into  jubilees  (hence  the  title  of  the  book)  and  dates 
each  event  in  relation  to  the  particular  jubilee  under 
which  it  fell.  (3)  The  writer  omits  many  stories  which 
apparently  offended  the  religious  sense  of  his  day.  One 
or  two  examples  may  be  given  by  way  of  illustration. 
The  story  of  the  offering  of  Isaac  (Gen.  xxii.),  for  in- 
stance, seems  to  have  presented  as  much  difficulty  to 
the  author  of  Jubilees  as  it  does  to  the  modern  reader, 
and  he  boldly  solves  the  problem  by  stating  that  Abra- 
ham was  tempted,  not  by  Jehovah,  but  by  an  evil  spirit 
named  Mastema.  Many  incidents  which  appear  to 
reflect  upon  the  character  of  the  patriarchs  are  cut  out 
altogether,  e.g.  Abraham's  deception  of  the  Egyptians 
(Gen.  xii.  11-14),  Jacob's  attempt  to  outwit  Laban 
(Gen.  xxx.,  xxxi.),  Jacob's  fear  of  Esau  (Gen.  xxxii., 
xxxiii.).     The  whole  of  chap.  xlix.  is  suppressed  because 


THE    BOOK    OF    JUBILEES         91 

of  its  severity  on  Levi  and  the  pre-eminence  which  it 
assigns  to  Judah.  (4)  Many  additions  are  also  made 
to  the  narrative.  The  names  of  the  wives  of  all  the 
patriarchs  are  given,  and  the  writer  even  knows  the 
name  of  the  wife  of  Cain.  The  story  of  Abraham  is 
expanded,  and  many  legends  are  added  in  connection 
with  his  early  life.  Particular  prominence  is  assigned 
to  Levi.  (5)  Great  stress  is  laid  on  the  Hebrew  feasts, 
all  of  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  instituted  in 
patriarchal  times.  The  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  for  in- 
stance, owes  its  origin  to  Abraham.  (6)  The  utmost 
emphasis  is  laid  on  the  Jewish  Law,  and  the  writer  of 
Jubilees  traces  the  origin  of  its  various  enactments  back 
to  the  age  of  the  Patriarchs. 

Date  of  the  Book. — Dr.  Charles  gives  a  series  of 
strong  arguments  to  prove  that  the  Book  of  Jubilees 
falls  within  the  period  135-96  B.C.  The  main  grounds 
upon  which  he  arrives  at  this  result  are  as  follows.  The 
book  was  evidently  wTitten  by  a  member  of  the  Pharisaic 
party  who  was  in  strong  sympathy  with  the  Maccabsean 
movement.  In  the  year  96  B.C.  a  serious  rupture 
occurred  between  the  Pharisees  and  Alexander  Jannaeus, 
the  representative  of  the  Maccabaean  family  at  the  time. 
After  this  date  it  is  unlikely  that  a  Pharisaic  writer  would 
have  shown  the  same  attitude  towards  the  Maccabseans 
which  we  find  in  the  Book  of  Jubilees.  The  detailed 
allusions    of    the    Apocalypse    also    seem    to    imply   a 


92        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Maccabsean  background.  The  insistence  which  is  laid 
upon  circumcision  and  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
pre-eminence  which  is  assigned  to  Levi  over  Judah,  the 
references  to  Edom,  find  their  simplest  explanation  in  the 
events  connected  with  this  period  of  Jewish  history.  The 
Book  of  Jubilees  was  used,  too,  by  the  author  of  ^thiopic 
Enoch  (chaps.  91-104),  and  as  the  year  95  b.c.  is  given 
as  the  latest  possible  date  for  this  section  of  Enoch,  it 
follows  that  our  Apocalypse  must  have  been  composed 
some  years  earlier.  We  may  say,  therefore,  that  Jubilees 
belongs  to  1 35-1 15  B.C. 

It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  there  is  another 
view  which  has  found  many  supporters  amongst  the 
specialists  who  have  made  this  book  their  particular 
study.  This  alternative  theory  maintains  that  the  Book 
of  Jubilees  was  written  during  the  period  which  immedi- 
ately preceded  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  i.e.  between 
A.D.  30  and  60,  and  was  intended  largely  as  a  Pharisaic 
manifesto  against  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles. 

Purpose  and  Aim  of  the  Book. — There  is  no  doubt, 
whatever  the  date  of  Jubilees  may  be,  that  its  main 
purpose  was  to  utter  a  protest  against  an  attempt  which 
was  being  made  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  Jewish  code. 
If  we  agree  with  Charles  in  placing  the  book  at  the 
close  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  we  shall  see  in  it  an 
effort  to  resist  the  Hellenic  spirit  which  was  creeping 
over  Judaism  at  the  time,  and  trying  to  rob  it  of  the 


THE    BOOK    OF   JUBILEES         93 

distinctive  features  of  its  legal  system.  If  we  accept  the 
theory  which  places  the  book  in  the  Apostolic  age,  we 
shall  look  upon  it  as  a  kind  of  counterblast  to  the 
arguments  used  by  St.  Paul  and  the  other  Apostles  in 
their  attack  upon  Judaism.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
there  is  a  good  deal  in  Jubilees  which  seems  to  fit 
excellently  into  this  latter  hypothesis.  One  of  St.  Paul's 
favourite  arguments  in  replying  to  the  Judaisers  was  this  : 
"  You  insist  upon  the  Law  of  Moses,  but  you  must  re- 
member that  the  Law  is  not  eternal :  it  is  only  an  inter- 
lude in  the  history  of  Israel's  religious  development. 
We  must  go  back  behind  Moses  to  our  forefather 
Abraham,  and  when  we  do  that  we  find  that  the  great 
principle  of  Abraham's  religion  was  not  law  but  faith." 
Paul's  appeal  from  Moses  to  Abraham  was  practically 
unanswerable.  The  only  possible  reply  was  to  do 
exactly  what  the  author  of  Jubilees  has  done — i.e.  assert 
that  the  Law  itself  did  not  originate  with  Moses,  as  the 
ordinary  narrative  of  the  Old  Testament  implies,  but 
goes  back  to  the  patriarchal  age,  and  is  as  ancient  as 
the  human  race  itself. 

The  Value  of  the  Book. — The  Book  of  Jubilees  con- 
tains many  points  which  are  full  of  interest  to  modern 
readers,  (i)  It  illustrates,  for  instance,  in  a  very  striking 
manner  the  freedom  with  which  Jewish  writers  dealt  with 
the  Old  Testament  narrative.  The  author  of  Jubilees 
did  not  feel  the  slightest  hesitation  in  altering  the  story 


94       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

of  Genesis  in  order  to  substantiate  his  own  particular 
theological  views.  The  historical  sense  is  altogether 
subordinated  to  religious  interests.  (2)  The  manner  in 
which  the  author  attempts  to  prove  the  eternity  of  the 
Jewish  Law  is  also  most  instructive.  He  is  not  content 
with  antedating  the  enactments  of  the  Mosaic  code,  but 
he  even  argues  that  the  Law  is  kept  in  heaven.  Angels 
were  created  circumcised,  and  are  subject  to  the  law  of 
the  Sabbath.  (3)  Another  interesting  feature  of  the 
book  is  its  developed  angelology.  The  author  divides 
angels  into  three  clashes  or  grades  :  (a)  the  angels  of 
the  face,  {^)  the  angels  of  sanctification,  (c)  the  angels 
who  superintend  the  work  of  nature.  (4)  Equally  im- 
portant is  the  author's  belief  in  demons.  They  origi- 
nated from  the  giants  who  were  the  offspring  of  the 
"  wicked  angels  "  and  "  the  daughters  of  men."  They  are 
under  the  rule  of  an  evil  spirit  named  Mastema,  and 
they  are  the  source  of  all  sin  and  evil  in  the  world. 

THE   ASCENSION   OF   ISAIAH 

This  Apocalypse  has  been  preserved  in  its  entirety 
only  in  an  ^thiopic  version,  though  fragments  are  found 
both  in  Latin  and  Greek.  It  differs  from  any  of  the 
Apocalypses,  which  we  have  hitherto  dealt  with,  in  con- 
taining a  large  admixture  of  Christian  elements. 

Contents  of  the   Book. — The   Ascension   of  Isaiah 


THE   ASCENSION    OF    ISAIAH     95 

may  be  divided  into  two  main  sections.  The  first  half 
of  the  book  (with  the  exception  of  one  very  important 
interpolation)  is  Jewish,  and  gives  an  account  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Isaiah.  The  second  half  is  mainly  Chris- 
tian, and  describes  Isaiah's  vision  of  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  (a)  The  martyr do77i  (chaps,  i.-iii.  13;  v.  2-14). 
The  story  is  as  follows.  At  the  end  of  his  reign  King 
Hezekiah  summons  his  son  Manasseh  to  receive  his  last 
instructions,  and  to  hear  an  account  of  the  revelations 
which  had  come  to  him  during  his  sickness.  The 
prophet  Isaiah  tells  Hezekiah  of  the  fate  which  he 
foresees  will  befall  him  when  Manasseh  becomes  king. 
Upon  the  death  of  Hezekiah,  Manasseh  abandons  the 
service  of  Jehovah.  Isaiah  and  the  prophets  flee  into 
the  wilderness  for  refuge.  A  false  prophet,  named 
Balkira,  discovers  his  retreat,  and  tells  Manasseh. 
Manasseh  at  once  sends  his  emissaries  to  seize  the 
prophet.  [At  this  point  comes  the  interpolated  section, 
which  will  be  discussed  separately.]  Isaiah  refuses  to 
recant,  and  is  "sawn  asunder  with  a  wooden  saw." 
{b)  The  interpolated  section  (chaps,  iii.  13-v.  i)  is  really 
an  independent  Apocalypse,  though  an  attempt  is  made 
to  connect  it  artificially  with  the  remainder  of  the 
narrative.  One  of  the  grounds  for  Belial's  enmity  to 
Isaiah,  was  his  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 
In  this  section,  the  Christian  interpolater  relates  how 
the  prophecy  will  be  fulfilled ;  how  the  twelve  Apostles 


96       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

will  preach  the  Gospel  after  the  death  of  Christ  and  win 
many  converts :  how  evil  will  creep  into  the  Church, 
and  how  Belial  will  incarnate  himself  in  the  form  of 
an  impious  king  :  and  how%  finally,  he  will  be  overthrown 
and  Christ  will  return  to  the  earth  and  establish  His 
kingdom,  (c)  T/ie  vision  of  Isatak  (chsups.  \i.-:si.).  This 
part  of  the  book,  which  presents  some  points  of  resem- 
blance with  the  Slavonic  Enoch,  describes  the  journey  of 
Isaiah  through  the  seven  heavens.  Each  of  the  heavens 
is  depicted  at  length.  The  series  represents  an  ascending 
scale  of  glory,  which  reaches  its  climax  in  the  seventh, 
where  Isaiah  beholds  the  Lord  of  Glory,  and  "  a  second 
most  glorious  one  like  unto  Him,"  and  "  the  angel  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  inspirer  of  the  prophets."  Then  the 
voice  of  the  Most  High  is  heard  speaking  to  His  Son, 
bidding  Him  descend  through  the  heavens  to  the  world. 
"The  Beloved"  (this  is  the  title  commonly  bestowed 
on  the  Messiah  in  this  book)  carries  out  His  Father's 
bidding,  passes  through  all  the  heavens  unrecognised, 
and  enters  into  this  world  through  a  Virgin  Birth.  His 
life,  death,  and  resurrection  are  briefly  described,  and 
then  the  prophet  beholds  His  ascension  through  the 
heavens,  in  all  of  which  He  is  now  recognised,  until  at 
last  He  reaches  the  seventh  heaven,  and  takes  His  seat 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  "  Great  Glory." 

Date  of  the  Book. — The  Ascension  of  Isaiah  in  its 
present  form  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a  compilation  of  three 


THE    ASCENSION    OF    ISAIAH     97 

different  documents,  two  of  which  contain  large  Christian 
elements.  This  final  stage  in  the  composition  of  the 
work  cannot  have  been  reached  till  the  second  century 
A.D.,  and  possibly  may  even  have  to  be  placed  at  the 
commencement  of  the  third  century.  The  documents 
themselves,  however,  go  back  to  earlier  times.  The 
Martyrdom  probably  belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the 
first  century,  a.d.  1-50.  This  conclusion  is  based  on 
two  grounds.  {a)  There  seems  to  be  an  allusion 
to  it  in  Hebrews  xi.  37.  {b)  It  is  scarcely  probable 
that  Jewish  books  would  obtain  recognition  in  the 
Christian  Church  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
The  other  two  documents,  according  to  Charles,  origi- 
nated a  little  later,  and  belong  to  the  last  decades  of 
the  century,  a.d.  80-100,  at  least  in  their  simplest  form. 
Harnack,  however,  adopts  a  much  later  date  for  the 
documents.  He  thinks  that  the  interpolated  section 
belongs  to  the  second  century  a.d.  and  the  Vision  to 
the  third. 

Value  of  the  Book. — The  chief  points  of  interest  in 
the  book  for  the  modern  student  occur  in  the  Christian 
sections.  The  first  of  these  {i.e.  the  interpolated  section) 
gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Church 
about  A.D.  80.  "  In  those  days,"  says  the  writer,  "  many 
will  love  office  though  devoid  of  wisdom.  There  will  be 
many  lawless  elders,  and  shepherds  dealing  wrongly  by 
the  sheep.  .  .  .  There  will  be  much  slander  and  vain- 

G 


98       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

glory  in  those  days.  .  .  .  And  there  will  not  be  many 
prophets,  nor  those  who  speak  trustworthy  words,  save 
one  here  and  there.  .  .  .  There  will  be  great  hatred 
in  the  shepherds  and  elders  towards  each  other."  This 
description  is  borne  out  by  similar  statements  which  we 
find  in  I.  Peter  and  the  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Rome. 
Other  valuable  features  in  these  sections  are:  (i)  The 
description  of  the  seven  heavens.  It  should  be  noted 
that  there  are  some  important  points  on  which  the 
account  of  the  heavens  in  the  Ascension  differs  from 
that  given  by  the  Slavonic  Enoch,  [a)  In  Enoch  some 
of  the  heavens  are  tenanted  by  evil  angels :  in  the 
Ascension  the  evil  angels  are  located  on  the  firmament, 
(d)  Enoch  places  certain  physical  elements  in  the  lower 
heavens,  e.g.  the  treasuries  of  the  ice  and  snow.  In 
the  Ascension  the  heavens  are  purely  spiritual  worlds. 
(2)  The  Messiah  is  almost  uniformly  described  as  "the 
Beloved,"  a  title  which  is  often  found  in  the  New 
Testament  {cf.  Mark  i.  11,  Eph.  i.  9).  (3)  There 
is  a  clear  reference  to  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  in  the  Vision  section.  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit  are  linked  together  and  receive  adoration 
and  worship,  though  the  two  latter  are  placed  in  a 
subordinate  position,  and  in  their  turn  do  homage  to 
the  Father.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  described  as  an  angel 
("the  angel  of  the  Spirit"  or  "the  angel  of  the  Holy 
Spirit "),  and  twice  is  identified  with  Gabriel.     (4)  The 


TESTAMENTS    OF    PATRIARCHS     99 

doctrine  of  the  Virgin  Birth  is  also  plainly  taught,  and 
in  a  manner  which  marks  a  clear  advance  upon  the 
statements  in  Matthew  and  Luke.  (5)  There  is  a 
marked  trace  in  the  book  of  Doketism — the  theory  that 
denied  the  real  humanity  of  Christ,  and  held  that  He 
possessed  merely  a  phantom  body.  (6)  The  book  is 
valuable,  too,  because  it  enables  us  to  trace  the  develop- 
ment of  the  belief  in  the  appearance  of  Antichrist,  and 
so  throws  light  upon  Paul's  prophecy  of  the  coming  of 
"  the  man  of  sin  "  in  II.  Thessalonians,  and  similar  state- 
ments in  the  Book  of  Revelation.  (7)  The  doctrine  of 
the  future  life  is  in  complete  agreement  with  the  later 
views  of  St.  Paul.  The  righteous  after  death  will  re- 
ceive "garments,"  in  which  they  will  be  clothed,  and 
then  they  will  ascend  with  Christ  into  heaven. 


THE  TESTAMENTS  OF  THE  TWELVE 
PATRIARCHS 

The  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  documents  which  belong  to  this 
class  of  Jewish  literature.  It  consists  of  twelve  small 
pamphlets,  which  purport  to  contain  the  last  utterances 
of  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob.  Each  of  these  men  is 
represented  as  calling  his  children  around  him  on  his 
deathbed  and  giving  them  words  of  counsel  and  advice 
with  regard  to  the  conduct  of  life.     In  most  cases  the 


loo      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Patriarch  recalls  some  of  the  leading  incidents  of  his 
own  career,  and  uses  them  as  a  text  from  which  he  draws 
lessons  of  warning  or  exhortation  for  his  children.  The 
Testament  of  Gad  may  be  taken  as  an  illustration  of 
the  method  of  the  writer.  Gad  tells  the  story  of  his  own 
enmity  against  Joseph.  Joseph,  according  to  the  nar- 
rative, had  carried  to  his  father  a  tale  that  his  brothers 
were  killing  the  best  of  his  flock  and  making  a  feast. 
This  angered  Gad,  and  made  him  often  wish  to  kill 
Joseph.  His  plans,  however,  were  frustrated  by  the  action 
of  Judah,  who  sold  Joseph  to  the  Ishmaelites.  Upon  this 
incident  the  writer  bases  his  sermon  against  malice  and 
hatred,  which  forms  the  theme  of  the  book.  "  Beware, 
therefore,  my  children,  of  hatred,  for  it  worketh  lawless- 
ness even  against  the  Lord  Himself.  .  .  .  Love  ye  each 
one  his  brother  and  put  away  hatred  from  your  hearts." 
The  Character  of  the  Book. — There  has  been  a  great 
deal  of  discussion  among  modern  scholars  as  to  the 
character  of  the  book.  Until  quite  recently  the  prevail- 
ing opinion  seems  to  have  regarded  the  Testaments  as 
the  work  of  a  Christian,  and  to  have  given  it  a  place  in 
early  Christian  literature.  The  monographs  of  Schnapp 
and  Charles  have,  however,  completely  reversed  this 
verdict.  There  are,  of  course,  undoubted  Christian 
elements  in  the  book,  and  the  problem  that  faces  the 
modern  scholar  is.  How  are  these  Christian  elements  to 
be  accounted    for  ?     The    older  view    maintained   that 


TESTAMENTS    OF    PATRIARCHS     loi 

they  represented  the  views  of  the  original  author. 
Schnapp  and  Charles,  on  the  contrary,  argue  that  they 
are  later  interpolations.  The  case  for  the  latter  view 
seems  to  have  been  substantiated  by  the  following  con- 
siderations :  (a)  Many  of  these  interpolations  are  not 
found  in  the  Armenian  version.  This  fact  proves  that 
the  process  of  interpolation  was  gradual,  and  that  when 
the  Armenian  version  was  made,  it  was  still  incomplete. 
(^)  Even  the  Greek  MSS.  differ  among  themselves  with 
regard  to  the  amount  of  the  interpolations.  Passages 
found  in  one  are  absent  from  another  MS.  (c)  The 
interpolations  are  not  homogeneous,  and  do  not  re- 
present a  uniform  theology.  The  older  view  was  com- 
pletely at  a  loss  when  it  attempted  to  define  the 
theological  position  of  the  author  of  the  document. 
Nitzsch,  for  instance,  described  him  as  a  Jewish  Christian 
of  Alexandria  who  had  imbibed  certain  current  Essene 
beliefs.  Ritschl  regarded  him  as  a  Gentile  Christian, 
while  Kayser  defined  him  as  an  Ebionite.  The  only 
theory  that  satisfactorily  explains  the  facts  is  the  view 
of  Charles,  that  the  Christian  elements  were  interpolated 
at  different  times  by  different  hands. 

The  Date  of  the  Book. — The  Testaments  consist  of 
three  different  strata:  (a)  the  original  groundwork, 
which  contains  about  eleven-twelfths  of  the  whole  work ; 
(d)  certain  Jewish  interpolations ;  (c)  the  Christian  ad- 
ditions.   The  date  of  the  original  groundwork  is  placed  by 


I02       THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Charles  between  109  and  107  B.C.  The  arguments  upon 
which  this  conclusion  is  based  are:  (i)  Certain  refer- 
ences in  the  book  imply  that  the  Jewish  nation  was  ruled 
by  one  who  combined  in  his  own  person  the  offices  of 
prophet,  priest,  and  king.  These  three  functions  were 
only  united  in  a  single  person,  viz.  John  Hyrcanus  (137- 
105  B.C.).  (2)  There  are  various  indications — e.g.  the 
allusion  to  the  destruction  of  Samaria — which  suggest 
that  the  book  belonged  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  John 
Hyrcanus,  i.e.  between  109  and  105.  (3)  Just  before  the 
end  of  his  reign  a  breach  occurred  between  John  Hyr- 
canus and  the  Pharisees.  It  is  inconceivable  that  a 
Pharisaic  writer,  such  as  the  author  of  the  Testaments, 
could  have  spoken  of  Hyrcanus  in  such  terms  of  praise 
after  the  outbreak  had  taken  place.  The  date,  therefore, 
may  be  fixed  between  109  and  107  B.C.  With  regard  to 
the  Jewish  interpolations,  Dr.  Charles  holds  that  the 
bulk  of  them  were  made  between  70  and  40  B.C.  The 
Christian  additions  were  made  at  different  periods.  Many 
of  them  must  have  been  introduced  into  the  text  at  a  very 
early  date,  because  they  are  found  in  a  Greek  version, 
with  which  St.  Paul  was  familiar,  and  which  must  there- 
fore have  been  in  existence  before  a.d.  50. 

Value  of  the  Book. — The  Testaments  are  full  of  in- 
terest for  the  modern  student. 

(i)  There  is  no  Jewish  document  which  had  a  greater 
influence    on    the    New   Testament.       Charles    cites   a 


TESTAMENTS    OF    PATRIARCHS     103 

number  of  passages  which  seem  to  prove  conclusively 
that  the  resemblances  between  certain  elements  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  and  the  statements  of  the  Testaments 
could  not  have  been  accidental.  He  further  quotes  no 
less  than  thirty  passages  from  the  Epistles  of  Paul  which 
make  it  absolutely  certain  that  our  document  must  have 
produced  a  great  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the 
Apostle.  There  are,  for  instance,  no  less  than  seventy 
words  common  to  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Testa- 
ments which  are  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  pages  of 
the  New  Testament.  From  the  point  of  view  of  New 
Testament  exegesis,  therefore,  the  document  is  of 
incalculable  value. 

(2)  The  Testaments  represent  the  high-water  mark  of 
Jewish  ethics.  No  other  document  affords  us  such  clear 
insight  into  the  higher  moral  teaching  of  the  Judaism  of 
this  period.  In  many  respects  there  is  a  considerable 
advance  upon  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  an  approximation  to  that  of  the  New.  It  contains, 
for  instance,  as  Charles  says,  "the  most  remarkable 
statement  on  the  subject  of  forgiveness  in  all  ancient 
literature."  "  If  a  man  sin  against  thee,  speak  peaceably 
to  him,  and  in  thy  soul  hold  not  guile ;  and  if  he  repent 
and  confess,  forgive  him.  But  if  he  deny  it,  do  not  get 
into  a  passion  with  him,  lest  catching  the  poison  from 
thee,  he  take  to  swearing  and  so  thou  sin  doubly.  .  .  . 
And  though  he  deny  it  and  yet  have  a  sense  of  shame 


I04      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

when  reproved,  give  over  reproving  him.  For  he  who 
denieth  may  repent  so  as  not  again  to  wrong  thee ;  yea, 
he  may  also  honour  thee  and  be  at  peace  with  thee. 
But  if  he  be  shameless,  and  persisteth  in  his  wrong-doing, 
even  so  forgive  him  from  the  heart  and  leave  to  God 
the  avenging"  (Test.  Gad,  vi.  3-7). 

(3)  Another  important  feature  of  the  book  is  its  imi- 
versalism.  It  has  a  broader  outlook  than  any  other 
document  of  the  period.  The  Gentiles  are  included  in 
the  scope  of  the  Divine  purpose.  The  Law  was  given 
"  to  lighten  every  man,"  and  not  merely  the  Jew.  There 
are  righteous  men  to  be  found  in  every  nation.  At  the 
great  consummation  "  the  twelve  tribes  shall  be  gathered 
together,  and  all  the  Gentiles,  until  the  Most  High  shall 
send  forth  His  salvation." 


CHAPTER  X 

OTHER  APOCRYPHAL  LITERATURE 

There  are  three  other  books  belonging  to  the  wider 
Apocrypha  which  cannot  be  classed  as  Apocalyptic,  and 
must  therefore  be  treated  separately,  viz.  HL  Maccabees, 
IV.  Maccabees,  and  the  Psalms  of  Solomon. 

THE  THIRD  BOOK  OF  MACCABEES 

The  title  bestowed  upon  this  book  is  altogether  a 
misnomer.  There  is  absolutely  no  reference  to  the 
Maccabees  or  the  Maccabsean  age  in  it  at  all.  How 
the  book  got  its  name  is  quite  inexplicable.  The  only 
point  which  it  has  in  common  with  the  other  books  of 
Maccabees  is,  that  it  tells  the  story  of  the  faithfulness 
of  the  Jewish  people  in  a  time  of  persecution.  Some 
scholars  have  tried  to  justify  the  title  by  supposing  that 
it  was  intended  originally  to  be  a  kind  of  introduction 
to  the  books  which  deal  with  the  Maccabaean  rising,  but 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  in  the  book  itself  that  at  all 
substantiates  this  theory.  The  only  plausible  explana- 
tion is  to  suppose  that  the  title  is  due  to  an  accident  in 
transmission,  though  it  is  quite  impossible,  of  course,  to 
discover  how  the  accident  happened. 

los 


io6      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Contents. — HI.  Maccabees  may  be  termed  a  histori- 
cal romance.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Jerusalem  and 
Alexandria  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  (IV.)  Philopator 
(222-204  B.C.).  The  story  of  the  book  is  as  follows. 
After  his  victory  over  Antiochus  at  Raphia  in  217  B.C., 
Ptolemy  visits  Jerusalem  and  makes  an  attempt  to  enter 
the  Temple,  in  spite  of  the  indignant  protests  of  priests 
and  people.  A  scene  of  the  utmost  confusion  ensues. 
The  people  clamour  for  armed  resistance.  Amidst  the 
panic  the  voice  of  the  High  Priest  Simon  is  heard  sup- 
plicating God  to  prevent  the  violation  of  the  Temple. 
In  answer  to  Simon's  prayer,  Ptolemy  is  smitten  with 
paralysis,  and  returns  to  Alexandria,  resolved  on  ven- 
geance. He  issues  an  edict  ordering  all  the  Jews  in 
Alexandria  to  embrace  the  worship  of  Bacchus  or  forfeit 
their  civic  status  and  privileges.  As  this  edict  does  not 
produce  the  desired  effect,  Ptolemy  determines  to  pro- 
ceed to  more  extreme  measures.  He  commands  that 
the  whole  of  the  Jewish  population  of  Alexandria  shall 
be  imprisoned  in  the  hippodrome,  and  that  their  names 
shall  be  taken  down  in  a  register  before  the  general 
massacre,  which  he  contemplates,  is  carried  into  effect. 
The  work  of  registration  goes  on  continuously  for  forty 
days,  and  then  the  clerks  report  that,  owing  to  the  vast 
number  of  the  Jews,  the  supply  of  writing  materials  has 
been  exhausted.  Ptolemy  then  gives  the  order  that  in- 
toxicated elephants  are  to  be  let  loose  upon  the  Jews  in 


III.    MACCABEES  107 

the  hippodrome.  The  description  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  catastrophe  was  averted  by  Providence  forms 
the  climax  of  the  story.  The  final  deliverance  was  pre- 
ceded by  two  temporary  respites.  On  the  first  occasion, 
King  Ptolemy  overslept  himself,  and  did  not  awake  till 
it  was  too  late  to  execute  the  order  on  the  appointed 
day.  On  another  occasion,  Ptolemy  is  made  by  Provi- 
dence to  forget  his  orders  and  declare  that  he  never 
issued  them.  These  interventions  were  only  a  prelude, 
however,  to  the  denouement,  when,  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  the  venerable  priest  Eleazar,  "  two  angels, 
glorious  and  terrible,"  appeared  from  heaven  and  struck 
consternation  into  the  hearts  of  the  king  and  the  people. 
The  miracle  completely  changed  the  attitude  of  King 
Ptolemy.  The  advisers  who  had  counselled  the  persecu- 
tion were  ignominiously  dismissed,  and  the  Jewish  people 
restored  to  all  their  ancient  privileges. 

Historical  Value. — Very  little  value  can  be  attached 
to  the  narrative  of  III.  Maccabees.  A  similar  story 
is  told  by  Josephus  of  a  later  king,  Ptolemy  VII. 
(146-116  B.C.).  His  account  is  as  follows:  "When 
Ptolemy  Physco  had  the  presumption  to  fight  against 
Onias's  army,  and  had  caught  all  the  Jews  that  were  in 
the  city  (Alexandria)  with  their  wives  and  children,  and 
exposed  them  naked  and  in  bonds  to  his  elephants,  that 
they  might  be  trodden  upon  and  destroyed,  and  when 
he  had  made  those  elephants  drunk  for  the  purpose,  the 


io8      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

event  proved  contrary  to  his  preparations,  for  the  elephants 
left  the  Jews  and  fell  violently  upon  Physco's  friends  and 
slew  a  great  number  of  them ;  after  this,  Ptolemy  saw  a 
terrible  ghost  which  prevented  his  hurting  these  men. 
...  It  is  well  known  that  the  Alexandrian  Jews  do 
with  good  reason  celebrate  this  day  on  account  of  the 
great  deliverance  which  was  vouchsafed  to  them  by 
God."  1  The  accounts  in  Josephus  and  in  III.  Maccabees 
contain  so  many  discrepancies  that  it  is  impossible  to 
reconcile  them,  and  difficult  to  regard  either  of  them  as 
historical.  Probably,  however,  there  is  some  basis  of 
fact  behind  the  stories.  The  Alexandrian  Jews  doubt- 
less, at  some  time  or  other,  were  providentially  delivered 
from  a  fierce  persecution,  in  which  perhaps  the  royal 
elephants  may  have  been  destined  to  play  a  part.  The 
original  fact,  however,  has  been  so  overlaid  with  legendary 
elements  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  disconnect  the 
truth  from  the  fiction  with  which  it  has  been  surrounded. 
Date  and  Authorship. — An  attempt  has  been  made 
by  several  distinguished  scholars  to  connect  the  book 
with  Caligula's  attempt  to  defile  the  Temple  at  Jeru- 
salem by  erecting  within  its  precincts  a  statue  of  himself, 
and  his  subsequent  persecution  of  the  Jews  (a.d.  40). 
Though  this  hypothesis  furnishes  an  excellent  motive 
for  the  composition  of  III.  Maccabees,  it  cannot,  un- 
fortunately, be  substantiated.     The  writer  would  surely 

^  Treatise  against  Apion,  ii.  5. 


III.    MACCABEES  109 

not  have  allowed  Caligula's  claim  to  receive  divine 
honours  to  pass  unnoticed,  when  an  allusion  to  it  would 
have  heightened  the  colours  in  which  he  has  portrayed 
Ptolemy's  acts  of  sacrilege.  Since  this  theory  seems 
to  fail  us,  and  no  other  explanation  of  the  occasion  of 
the  book  is  forthcoming,  it  is  only  possible  to  form  the 
vaguest  views  with  regard  to  the  authorship  and  date  of 
III.  Maccabees.  All  that  we  can  say  is  that  the  author 
must  have  been  an  Alexandrian  Jew,  and  that  he  com- 
posed the  book  either  in  the  first  century  B.C.  or  (as 
seems  more  probable)  the  first  century  a.d. 

Religious  Teaching. — There  are  very  few  specially 
distinctive  features  about  the  religious  teaching  of 
III.  Maccabees.  It  discusses  no  theological  problems, 
and  it  makes  very  little  contribution  to  theological 
thought.  Its  interests  are  in  the  practical  rather  than 
in  the  speculative  side  of  religion.  The  following  ideas 
are  prominent:  (i)  Great  stress  is  laid  upon  the  value 
of  prayer.  The  miraculous  interventions  are  represented 
in  both  cases  as  direct  answers  to  prayer,  and  the  prayers 
of  Simon  and  Eleazar,  which  produced  the  interventions, 
are  reported  at  length.  (2)  Emphasis  is  laid  upon  the 
conception  of  Providence.  The  writer  speaks  of  "  the 
unconquerable  Providence"  which  came  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Jews  (chap.  iv.  21).  This  is  a  Greek  idea 
which  attained  particular  prominence  amongst  the 
Stoics. 


no      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

THE    FOURTH    BOOK   OF   MACCABEES 

The  fourth  book  of  Maccabees  is  quite  unlike  the 
other  books  which  bear  the  same  title.  It  makes  no 
pretence  to  give  a  historical  account  of  the  Maccabaean 
age.  Its  chief  interest  is  in  philosophy  and  rehgion : 
the  historical  elements  (if  such  they  can  be  called)  are 
entirely  secondary  and  subordinate,  and  are  only  intro- 
duced to  illustrate  and  substantiate  its  philosophical 
principles.  The  book  is  really  a  sermon  or  homily, 
a  hortatory  address  intended  to  urge  its  hearers  or 
readers  to  a  life  of  fidelity  to  God  and  self-control. 

Contents. — The  theme  of  the  book  is  stated  in  the 
opening  sentence.  The  writer  says  that  "he  intends 
to  demonstrate  a  most  philosophical  proposition,  viz. 
that  pious  reason  is  absolute  master  of  the  passions." 
It  is  through  reason,  he  asserts,  that  man  is  able  to 
attain  self-control,  and  curb  the  appetites  and  passions 
which  constantly  threaten  to  destroy  his  virtue.  There 
is  one  limitation,  however,  to  the  power  of  reason.  It 
cannot  control  its  own  affections.  It  does  not  enable 
a  man  to  root  out  desire,  though  it  does  make  it  possible 
for  him  to  avoid  being  enslaved  to  it.  "A  man  may 
not  be  able  to  eradicate  malice,  but  reason  has  power 
to  prevent  him  yielding  to  it,"  "for  reason  is  not  an 
eradicator  but  an  antagonist  of  the  passions  "  (chap.  iii. 
1-3).     The  writer's  method  of  proof  may  be  given  in 


IV.    M  AC  CABEES  in 

his  own  words.  "  I  might  prove  to  you  from  many 
other  considerations  that  pious  reason  is  the  sole  master 
of  the  passions,  but  I  shall  prove  it  most  effectually  from 
the  fortitude  of  Eleazar,  and  of  the  seven  brethren  and 
their  mother ;  for  all  these  proved  by  their  contempt  of 
torture  and  death  that  reason  has  command  over  the 
passions."  These  historical  illustrations,  which  the 
writer  regards  as  a  demonstration  of  his  thesis,  occupy 
three-fourths  of  the  book.  We  may  divide  IV.  Macca- 
bees, therefore,  into  the  following  sections :  (a)  state- 
ment of  thesis  and  definition  of  terms  (chaps.  i.-iv.)j 
(^)  narrative  of  the  trial  and  torture  of  the  aged  priest 
Eleazar  (chaps,  v.  i-vi.  30);  (c)  the  lessons  which  are 
to  be  drawn  from  the  story  (chaps,  vi.  31-vii.  23); 
(d)  description  of  the  torture  and  martyrdom  of  the 
seven  youths  (chaps,  viii.  i-xii.  20) ;  (e)  the  writer's 
comments  on  their  fortitude  (chaps,  xiii.  i-xiv.  10) ; 
(/)  reflections  on  the  sufferings  and  constancy  of  their 
mother  (chaps,  xiv.  ii-xviii.).  These  historical  illustra- 
tions are  an  expansion  of  the  narrative  in  II.  Maccabees 
(chaps,  vi.  i8-vii.  42). 

Characteristic  Features  of  the  Book. — (i)  As  has 
already  been  said,  the  book  is  probably  a  homily,  and 
the  only  specimen  of  Jewish  sermonic  literature  which 
has  been  preserved  in  the  Apocrypha.  This  conclusion 
is  drawn  from  the  frequent  appeals  which  the  writer 
makes   to    his   hearers    or   readers    {cf.  chap,   xviii.    i). 


112      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

Though  the  writer  adopts  the  sermonic  form,  however, 
it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  the  book  represents 
an  ordinary  Jewish  discourse  such  as  might  have  been 
dehvered  in  the  synagogue.  There  is  a  certain  artifi- 
ciality about  the  language  and  the  argument  of  the  book 
which  seems  to  show  that  the  form  has  been  chosen 
as  a  literary  device  rather  than  as  an  example  of  Jewish 
preaching.  (2)  The  book  has  been  described  as  a 
*' characteristic  product  of  Hellenistic  culture  of  the 
best  type."  The  influence  of  Greek  thought  is  patent 
upon  every  page.  The  very  thesis  of  the  book  may  be 
described  as  a  Jewish  version  of  the  Socratic  dictum, 
"  Virtue  is  knowledge."  The  terminology  which  the 
writer  uses  in  his  treatment  of  his  subject  has  far  more 
in  common  with  Greek  philosophy  than  it  has  with  the 
Old  Testament.  There  are  marked  traces,  too,  of 
Stoic  tendencies.  The  four  cardinal  virtues,  for  instance, 
upon  which  the  writer  so  strongly  insists,  are  borrowed 
directly  from  Stoicism.  Yet  in  spite  of  his  sympathy 
with  Greek  and  Stoic  thought,  the  author  of  IV.  Macca- 
bees is  a  loyal  Jew,  devoted  to  the  Law,  and  passionately 
opposed  to  any  weakening  of  its  authority.  Indeed 
he  goes  as  far  as  to  maintain  that  "it  is  only  the 
children  of  the  Hebrews  who  are  invincible  in  the  fight 
for  virtue"  (chap.  ix.  18).  (3)  The  book  has  absolutely 
no  historical  value.  The  writer  borrows  his  illustrations 
from  II.  Maccabees,  a  source  of  most  dubious  authority, 


IV.    MACCABEES  113 

and  expands  the  narrative  in  order  to  suit  his  own 
purpose.  The  speeches  and  prayers  which  he  puts 
into  the  mouths  of  his  heroes  are  clearly  his  own 
composition. 

Authorship  and  Date. — Many  of  the  early  Christian 
Fathers,  e.g.  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  attributed  IV. 
Maccabees  to  Josephus.  There  does  not,  however, 
seem  to  be  the  slightest  justification  for  the  theory,  since 
the  book  presents  the  most  marked  differences,  both  in 
style  and  thought,  from  the  genuine  works  of  Josephus. 
The  name  of  the  author  is  lost  beyond  recovery,  but 
the  internal  evidence  of  the  book  itself  enables  us  to 
form  a  tolerably  clear  conception  of  his  character  and 
general  outlook.  We  know  that  he  must  have  been : 
(a)  A  /ew,  who  sympathised  mainly  with  the  Pharisaic 
party,  and  probably  belonged  to  it.  His  attitude  to  the 
Law  is  enough  in  itself  to  make  this  conclusion  unassail- 
able. {^)  A  Quietist^  like  the  author  of  the  Assumption 
of  Moses.  This  deduction  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that 
he  selects  as  his  heroes,  not  Judas  Maccabseus,  but 
the  martyrs  who  laid  down  their  lives  rather  than  submit 
to  the  demands  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  "And  the 
nation  through  them,"  he  writes,  "  obtained  peace,  and 
having  renewed  the  observance  of  the  Law  drove  the 
enemy  out  of  the  land  "  (chap,  xviii.  4),  a  statement  which 
is  not  strictly  true,  as  it  ignores  altogether  the  work  of 
the  Maccabees,    {c)  A  Hellenist^  who  had  come  under  the 

H 


114      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

influence  of  Greek  and  Stoic  ideas.  There  is  no  other 
book  in  the  Apocrypha  which  shows  such  sympathy 
with  the  wider  culture  of  the  age.  id)  Probably  an 
Alexandrian.  The  use  which  the  book  makes  of  II. 
Maccabees,  and  the  fact  that  the  earliest  notices  of  it 
are  found  in  literature  of  Alexandrian  origin,  seem  to 
make  this  assumption  a  certainty.  With  regard  to  the 
date  of  the  book,  we  have  no  evidence  to  go  upon, 
except  that  we  know  that  it  must  have  been  written 
later  than  II.  Maccabees,  from  which  it  drew  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  material.  The  probability  is  that 
it  was  composed  either  just  before  or  just  after  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  era. 

Religious  Value. — IV.  Maccabees  is  of  great  value 
for  the  student  of  the  New  Testament.  Its  author  had 
many  points  in  common  with  the  Apostle  Paul.  Both 
were  zealous  Pharisees,  both  were  animated  by  intense 
religious  fervour,  both  were  influenced  by  the  culture  of 
the  day,  especially  in  its  Stoic  form.  In  fact,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  imagine  that  the  book  might  have 
been  the  composition  of  Paul  if  he  had  never  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity.  We  may  almost  say,  therefore, 
that  the  measure  of  the  difference  between  IV.  Maccabees 
and  the  Epistles  of  Paul  represents  the  measure  of  the 
influence  of  Christianity.  The  following  points  in  the 
book  seem  to  be  particularly  instructive  :  (i)  The  main 
theme  of  the  book — or  rather  its  limitation — that  reason 


IV.    MACCABEES  115 

is  not  master  of  its  own  affections,  and  so  cannot  control 
thoughts  and  motives,  throws  a  clear  light  on  the  re- 
ligious development  of  Paul  in  his  pre-Christian  days. 
It  was  when  Paul  realised  that  the  Law  did  not  enable 
him  to  keep  the  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet," 
and  that  it  had  no  power  to  govern  the  inner  realm  of 
the  spirit,  that  the  crisis  came  which  proved  the  turning- 
point  in  his  spiritual  life.  It  was  this  limitation,  which 
is  so  acutely  recognised  in  IV.  Maccabees,  which  gave 
Paul  no  peace  till  he  found  peace  in  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  (2)  Great  stress  is  laid  in  the  book  on  the 
conception  of  "propitiation."  The  death  of  the  martyrs 
atones  for  the  sins  of  the  people.  This  idea  occurs 
several  times  in  the  book,  but  the  clearest  statement  is 
found  in  chap.  xvii.  22.  "So  that  they  became  an  atone- 
ment for  the  sin  of  the  people,  and  by  the  blood  of  those 
pious  ones,  and  by  their  propitiatory  death,  the  Divine 
Providence  saved  Israel,  which  aforetime  had  been 
afflicted."  It  seems  probable  that  this  passage  sug- 
gested to  Paul  some  of  the  ideas  which  are  found  in 
his  great  statement  in  Rom.  iii.  25.  (3)  This  book 
helps  also  to  explain  and  illustrate  the  combination  of 
Jewish  and  Stoic  elements  in  the  Pauline  theology, 
though,  of  course,  the  combination  in  Paul  is  not  the 
same  as  that  in  IV.  Maccabees. 


ii6      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

THE   PSALMS   OF   SOLOMON 

The  Psalms  of  Solomon  occupy  the  same  place  in 
Apocryphal  literature  as  the  Psalter  does  in  the  Old 
Testament,  though  it  is  clear,  from  the  scantiness  of 
the  allusions  to  them  in  early  times,  that  they  never 
secured  a  wide  circulation,  nor  won  their  way  into  the 
affection  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  collection  con- 
sists of  eighteen  Psalms  of  varying  length  and  value. 
They  are  written  for  the  most  part  in  imitation  of  the 
Old  Testament  Psalter,  and  often  reproduce  its  language, 
though  it  must  be  admitted  that  some  of  them  are  not 
devoid  of  originality  and  forcefulness. 

Date. — The  date  of  the  Psalms  can  be  fixed  by  the 
allusions  to  historical  events  which  are  found  in  them. 
The  political  situation,  which  constitutes  the  historical 
background  of  the  book,  is  as  follows.  The  Jews  are  in 
a  condition  of  great  outward  prosperity,  when  suddenly 
a  rumour  is  heard  that  a  hostile  host  is  approaching  the 
city,  led  by  a  stranger  who  comes  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  and  is  called,  at  different  times,  "  the 
sinner,"  "the  lawless,"  "the  dragon,"  and  "the  adver- 
sary." The  invader  attacks  Jerusalem,  and  breaks  down 
its  walls  with  his  battering-ram  :  the  Gentile  host  enters 
the  Temple  and  pollutes  the  altar.  A  massacre  takes 
place,  in  which  blood  is  poured  out  like  water  in  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem.     Large  numbers  of  Jews  are  sent 


PSALMS    OF    SOLOMON  117 

into  exile  "  in  the  bounds  of  the  west."  Later  on,  how- 
ever, retribution  overtakes  the  conqueror  for  his  pro- 
fanity. He  is  assassinated  in  Egypt,  his  body  hes  tossing 
on  the  waves,  and  there  is  no  one  to  bury  him.  There 
is  only  one  episode  in  Jewish  history  which  at  all 
answers  to  this  description,  viz.  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  Pompey  in  63  B.C.  We  may  therefore, 
with  confidence,  place  the  Psalms  of  Solomon  in  the 
period  70-40  B.C.,  the  latter  date  being  fixed  by  the 
death  of  Pompey,  which  occurred  in  48  B.C. 

Authorship. — In  view  of  the  minor  differences  which 
appear  in  the  various  Psalms,  it  is  impossible  to  maintain 
the  theory  of  a  common  author.  The  collection  was 
probably  the  work  of  a  group  of  men  who,  while  agreeing 
with  regard  to  their  general  religious  outlook,  differed 
among  themselves  upon  smaller  questions.  There  is  no 
difficulty  in  deciding  upon  the  party  to  which  this  group 
belonged.  They  were  evidently  Pharisees,  and  the 
Psalms  were  composed  with  the  object  of  strengthening 
the  Pharisaic  position  and  attacking  the  Sadducees. 
Throughout  the  book  the  Pharisees  are  termed  "the 
righteous "  and  "  the  saints,"  while  the  Sadducees  are 
described  as  "  sinners  "  and  "  transgressors."  All  the 
distinctive  Pharisaic  tenets  are  strongly  enforced  and 
emphasised  by  the  Psalmists  ;  in  fact  the  books  afford 
the  best  portrait  which  we  possess  of  the  Pharisaic  ideal 
in   the    middle    of  the   first   century    B.C.      Everything 


ii8      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

points  to  the  fact  that  the  Psalms  were  the  work  of 
Palestinian  Jews  who  almost  certainly  lived  in  Jerusalem. 
The  evidence  of  the  language  and  style  proves  con- 
clusively, too,  that  these  Psalms,  which  we  only  possess 
in  a  Greek  version,  were  originally  written  in  Aramaic. 

Religious  Outlook. — As  we  have  already  seen,  the 
book  represents  the  creed  of  the  Pharisees,  and  its 
specific  theological  teaching  is  therefore  necessarily  that 
of  this  particular  school  of  Jewish  thought.  Among  the 
ideas  which  are  most  prominent  in  these  Psalms  we  may 
note  the  following:  (i)  The  belief  in  theocracy.  The 
watchword  of  the  Pharisees,  especially  in  the  face  of  the 
Roman  domination,  was  always,  "  The  Lord  is  King." 
(2)  The  belief  in  the  Law  as  the  expression  of  the  Divine 
ideal.  True  righteousness  consists  in  strictly  keeping 
the  legal  ordinances  and  avoiding  any  violation  of  the 
ceremonial  law.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that 
much  more  stress  is  laid  upon  the  inner  life  and  the 
need  of  prayer  and  repentance  by  the  authors  of  these 
Psalms  than  by  the  later  Pharisees  who  are  described  in 
the  pages  of  the  New  Testament.  (3)  The  belief  in  the 
future  life.  At  the  time  of  God's  visitation,  the  righteous 
will  rise  to  "  life  eternal  "  and  inherit  the  promises  of  the 
Lord.  The  fate  of  the  wicked,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
stated  in  terms  which  seem  to  imply  the  doctrine  of 
annihilation.  "The  destruction  of  the  sinner  is  for 
ever."     There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  the  writers 


PSALMS    OF    SOLOMON  119 

believed,  like  most  Pharisees,  in  a  physical  resurrection, 
though  this  idea  is  not  excluded. 

The  Prophecy  of  the  Messiah. — The  most  noteworthy 
feature  of  the  Psalms  is  the  great  prophecy  of  the  advent 
of  the  Messiah  which  is  found  in  Ps.  xvii.  27-51.  The 
Messiah,  to  whom  the  Psalmist  looks  forward,  is  un- 
doubtedly an  earthly  ruler.  He  is  described  as  "  Son  of 
David"  and  "the  Lord  Christ,"  but  has  no  Divine 
attributes  assigned  to  him.  This  Messiah  is  to  be 
raised  up  by  God  to  deliver  the  people  from  the  Roman 
supremacy  and  to  terminate  the  Sadducean  rule.  He 
will  cleanse  Jerusalem  from  all  impurity,  and  bring  back 
into  Palestine  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.  He  himself 
will  be  free  from  sin  and  will  make  his  people  holy. 
He  will  win  his  victory  not  by  force  of  arms  but  by  "  the 
word  of  his  mouth."  To  quote  the  words  of  Ryle  and 
James,  to  whom  we  owe  our  best  edition  of  the  Psalms : 
"The  Messiah  of  this  Psalm  is  not  Divine.  Divinely 
appointed,  divinely  raised  up,  endowed  with  Divine  gifts 
he  is,  but  he  is  nothing  more  than  man.  Neither  of 
supernatural  birth  nor  of  pre-existence  in  the  bosom  of 
God  or  among  the  angels  of  God  do  we  find  any  trace. 
If  he  is  called  Lord,  the  word  is  only  used  of  him  as  it 
might  be  used  of  an  earthly  lord.  However  high  the 
conception  of  his  moral  character  and  spiritual  quali- 
fications, he  is  man  and  man  only." 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   APOCRYPHA 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  it  can  be  said  that  the  New 
Testament  does  not  possess  an  Apocrypha.  There  is 
no  well-defined  collection  of  writings,  like  the  Old 
Testament  Apocrypha  proper,  which  have  been  re- 
cognised at  any  time  as  Scripture  by  the  general  consent 
of  the  Church.  The  New  Testament  Apocryphal  writings 
correspond  more  nearly  to  the  wider  Apocrypha  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  comprise  a  number  of  documents 
of  very  varying  value,  which  claim  to  have  originated 
from  the  Apostolic  age,  and  some  of  which  were  held  in 
high  esteem  by  the  Christian  Church. 

The  reason  why  there  is  no  New  Testavieni  Apocrypha 
in  the  technical  sense  of  the  word  can  easily  be  ex- 
plained. The  Old  Testament  Apocrypha  is  the  result  of 
the  existence  of  two  different  Canons  of  the  Old 
Testament,  both  of  which  won  for  themselves  wide 
recognition.  In  the  case  of  the  New  Testament  this 
phenomenon  does  not  exist.  There  have  been,  of  course, 
different   Canons  in  different  sections  of  the  Church. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA  121 

The  ^thiopic  Canon,  for  instance,  contains  eight  books 
which  are  not  found  in  our  New  Testament.  The 
Canon  of  the  Greek  Church  omits  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  and  includes  some  documents  which  are 
not  recognised  elsewhere.  The  Syrian  Canon  omitted 
four  of  the  Catholic  Epistles  and  the  Apocalypse.  The 
Muratorian  Fragment  (a.d.  170)  did  not  include  Hebrews, 
James,  or  11.  Peter,  but  recognised  the  Apocalypse  of 
Peter.  Individual  Fathers,  too,  in  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  showed  their  own  particular  preferences  by 
their  acceptance  or  rejection  of  different  books. 
But  there  never  was  a  time,  at  least  after  the  third 
century,  when  two  rival  Canons  divided  Christendom. 

At  one  period  it  seemed  as  if  such  a  division  of 
opinion  were  inevitable.  At  the  close  of  the  second 
century  we  find  different  Canons  of  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Eastern  and  Western  divisions  of  the  Church. 
Both  Canons  included  the  Gospels,  the  Acts,  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  I.  John,  I.  Peter,  and  the  Apocalypse.  The 
Eastern  Canon  added  to  this  list  Hebrews  and  James, 
the  Western  H.  and  III.  John,  and  Jude.  Neither 
Canon  included  II.  Peter.  Now,  if  this  cleavage  of 
opinion  had  been  maintained,  the  result  would  have 
been  that  a  New  Testament  Apocrypha  would  have  been 
created,  consisting  of  the  differentia  between  the  two 
Canons,  viz.  Hebrews,  James,  II.  and  III.  John,  and 
Jude,  to  which  doubtless  II.   Peter  would  have  been 


122      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

afterwards  added.  The  difference,  however,  was  not 
perpetuated.  The  two  Canons  coalesced,  with  the  result 
that  our  present  New  Testament  was  produced. 

The  Apocryphal  Writings. — But  though  we  have  no 
Apocrypha  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term,  we  have 
a  large  number  of  documents  which  correspond  to  the 
wider  Apocrypha  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  may  be 
classified  as  follows  : — 

(i)  Books  which  were  at  one  ti?ne  used  as  Scripture 
in  the  Church.  This  class  forms  the  nearest  approach 
to  a  New  Testament  Apocrypha  proper.  The  New 
Testament,  like  the  Old,  was  only  gradually  collected 
together.  The  process  took,  at  any  rate,  three  centuries. 
During  this  period,  several  books  which  did  not  finally 
get  into  the  Canon  were  used  in  public  worship.  Some 
of  them  are  actually  found  appended  to  the  two  earliest 
and  most  valuable  MSS.  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
most  important  documents  belonging  to  this  class  are 
the  Epistle  of  Clement,  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  and  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas.  The  Gospel  and  Apocalypse  of  Peter  were 
also  used  in  church,  but  for  purposes  of  convenience 
they  will  be  dealt  with  in  another  class. 

(2)  Apocryphal  Gospels.  We  possess  a  large  number 
of  Apocryphal  Gospels  of  varying  importance.  They 
may  be  classified  as  follows  :  {a)  Gospels  which  have  some 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  genuine  a?id  authentic.     The  only 


NEW  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA  123 

Gospel  which  is  generally  admitted  into  this  class  is  the 
Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews,  {b)  Heretical  Gospels, 
i.e.  Gospels  which  have  been  altered  and  amended  to 
suit  the  views  of  some  heretical  sect.  The  most 
important  Gospels  of  this  kind  are  :  the  Gospel  of  Peter, 
the  Gospel  according  to  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Gospel 
of  the  Ebionites.  {c)  The  Logia  documents,  or  the 
newly  discovered  "  Sayings  of  Jesus,"  to  use  the  better 
known  description,  must  be  put  in  a  class  by  themselves, 
because  at  present  we  do  not  possess  sufficient  data  for 
determining  their  value,  {d)  The  Legendary  Gospels.,  all 
of  which  are  full  of  romantic  stories  about  Jesus  which 
are  universally  regarded  as  fictitious.  These  Gospels 
maybe  divided  into  the  following  groups:  (i)  Those 
which  relate  to  the  Virgin  Birth  and  Infancy  of  Jesus. 
The  most  important  document  of  this  class  is  the 
Protevangelium  of  James,  which  is  the  source  from 
which  several  of  the  other  Gospels  of  this  species,  viz. 
the  Gospel  of  the  Pseudo-Matthew,  and  the  Gospel  of 
the  Nativity  of  Mary,  were  derived.  Under  this 
heading  we  may  also  conveniently  place  the  History 
of  Joseph  the  Carpenter,  and  the  Assumption  of  Mary. 
(2)  Those  which  deal  with  the  boyhood  of  Jesus.  The 
chief  place  in  this  class  must  be  given  to  the  Gospel  of 
Thomas.  (3)  Gospels  which  relate  to  Pilate.  The 
most  important  of  these  is  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus. 
(3)  Apocryphal  Acts.     We  also  possess  a  considerable 


124      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

number  of  documents  written  in  imitation  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  claiming  to  give  a  history  of  the 
work  of  different  Apostles  after  the  Ascension  of  Jesus. 
The  most  important  of  these  are :  the  Acts  of  Paul  and 
Thecla,  the  Acts  of  Thomas,  the  Acts  of  Andrew,  the 
Acts  of  John,  the  Acts  of  Peter,  the  Acts  of  Peter  and 
Paul. 

(4)  Very  few  Apocryphal  Epistles  have  survived. 
The  most  important  of  these  are :  the  Correspondence 
between  Jesus  and  Abgarus,  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Laodiceans,  and  the  Correspondence  between  Paul  and 
Seneca. 

(5)  The  most  valuable  and  best  known  of  the  Apo- 
cryphal Apocalypses  is  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter,  a  large 
fragment  of  which  has  been  recently  discovered.  There 
are  others,  e.g.  the  Apocalypses  of  John  and  Paul,  but 
they  are  of  slight  importance. 

Value  of  the  New  Testament  Apocrypha. — The  New 
Testament  Apocrypha  are  not  so  important  for  us  to-day 
as  the  Apocrypha  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  have  a 
greater  value  for  the  student  of  Church  history  and 
Christian  doctrine  than  for  the  student  of  the  New 
Testament.  They  illustrate,  for  instance,  the  rise  of 
the  heretical  sects  and  their  treatment  of  Scripture,  the 
growth  of  Mariolatry,  the  prevalence  of  the  Doketic 
explanation  of  Christ,  the  development  of  superstition, 
&c.     Still  they  are  not  without  some   value  even  for 


NEW  TESTAMENT  APOCRYPHA  125 

New  Testament  work,  (a)  The  fragments  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  Hebrews,  for  instance,  are  now  generally  regarded 
as  containing  authentic  material  for  the  life  of  Christ. 
So,  too,  the  fragment  of  the  Gospel  of  Peter,  when  the 
heretical  elements  in  it  have  been  discounted,  appears 
to  contain  genuine  tradition  which  can  be  judiciously- 
turned  to  account.  (^)  The  Logia  throw  some  light 
on  the  synoptic  problem,  since  they  bear  witness  to  the 
existence  of  separate  collections  of  sayings  of  Jesus 
similar  to  the  document  which  must  have  been  used 
by  Matthew  and  Luke  in  the  writing  of  their  Gospels. 
(c)  The  earlier  documents  are  valuable  for  the  purposes 
of  textual  criticism,  since  they  preserve  certain  early 
readings.  (d)  The  Apocryphal  books  also  at  times 
assist  us  in  the  work  of  exegesis,  since  they  give  the 
interpretation  placed  upon  certain  passages  of  the  New 
Testament  in  early  times,  (e)  The  Legendary  Gospels 
act  as  a  foil  to  show  the  sobriety  of  the  narratives  in 
the  Canonical  Gospels. 


CHAPTER   XII 

NON-CANONICAL  BOOKS  WHICH  WERE 
USED  AS  SCRIPTURE  BY  THE  EARLY 
CHURCH 

THE    FIRST    EPISTLE   OF   CLEMENT 

That  the  first  Epistle  of  Clement  was  used  in  public 
worship  is  clearly  proved  by  two  statements  of  Eusebius 
(330)  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History.  The  first  statement  is 
found  in  an  excerpt  from  a  letter  of  Dionysius  of  Corinth 
(160-180)  to  Soter,  Bishop  of  Rome.  In  reply  to  Soter, 
Dionysius  says:  "To-day  has  been  the  Lord's  day,  and 
we  have  read  your  Epistle.  Whenever  we  read  it,  we  shall 
have  our  minds  stored  with  counsel,  as  we  do  when  we 
read  the  letter  which  was  written  to  us  in  former  times  by 
Clement "  (Book  iv.  23).  It  was  not  only  in  Corinth,  how- 
ever, that  this  Epistle  was  used  in  worship,  for  in  his 
second  statement  (Book  iii.  16)  Eusebius  says:  "This 
Epistle  we  know  to  have  been  publicly  read  for  the 
common  benefit  in  most  of  the  churches  both  in  former 
times  and  in  our  own  day."  The  custom  of  using  the 
Epistle  in  church  seems  to  have  continued  for  some 
time  after  Eusebius,  for  at  the  commencement  of  the 


FIRST    EPISTLE    OF    CLEMENT     127 

fifth    century  Jerome   tells  us  that    "it  was    still   read 
publicly  in  some  places." 

The  Character  of  the  Epistle. — The  Epistle  was 
written  in  the  name  of  the  Church  at  Rome  to  the 
Church  at  Corinth.  "  The  Church  of  God  sojourning 
in  Rome  "  (so  runs  the  opening  verse)  "  to  the  Church 
of  God  sojourning  in  Corinth."  The  occasion  of  its 
composition  was  the  outbreak  "of  an  unholy  and  detest- 
able sedition  "  which  threatened  to  destroy  the  unity  of 
the  Corinthian  Church.  The  Church  at  Corinth  seems 
never  to  have  been  able  to  shake  off  its  unenviable 
reputation  for  party  divisions  and  factions,  which  from 
the  earliest  times,  as  we  know  from  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  marred  its  harmony  and  hindered  its  development. 
What  particular  form  the  dispute  took  on  this  occasion, 
cannot  be  definitely  determined.  It  raged  round  the 
heads  of  some  of  the  presbyters,  as  the  officers  of  the 
Church  were  called,  but  on  what  ground  it  is  impossible 
to  tell.  It  may  have  been  a  purely  personal  quarrel : 
possibly  the  Church  had  grown  tired  of  its  officers.  Or 
it  may  have  been  the  birth-pangs  which  attended  the 
rise  of  a  new  system  of  government  in  the  Church. 
The  old  order  of  things,  as  we  know,  was  beginning  to 
pass  away,  and  a  new  method  of  government,  which 
finally  placed  each  Church  under  the  control  of  a  single 
bishop,  was  beginning  to  develop,  and  it  may  be  that 
the  strife  at  Corinth  was  in  some  way  connected  with 


128      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

this  change.  Whatever  its  source,  the  controversy  was 
absolutely  fatal  to  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and  stultified 
its  influence.  And  so  the  Church  at  Rome,  for  the  first 
time  in  history,  intervened  with  this  letter  of  friendly 
counsel  and  wise  advice.  The  Epistle  may  be  described, 
therefore,  as  a  tract  in  favour  of  unity  and  charity,  and 
it  must  have  been  largely  due  to  its  character  that  it 
obtained  its  position  among  the  "  sacred  writings  "  which 
were  used  in  the  worship  of  the  Church. 

Authorship  and  Date. — The  Epistle  is  anonymous, 
and  affords  no  hint  as  to  the  identity  of  its  author. 
Tradition  from  the  time  of  Dionysius  of  Corinth  is  unani- 
mous in  ascribing  it  to  Clement  of  Rome.  Who  was 
this  Clement?  Many  of  the  ancient  Fathers  identify 
him  with  the  Clement  mentioned  by  Paul  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians  (chap.  iv.  3).  This  theory,  however, 
seems  to  be  very  improbable.  Though  Clement  mentions 
Paul  in  the  Epistle,  he  never  alludes  to  any  personal 
connection  with  him,  and  neither  in  contents  or  style 
does  the  Epistle  show  the  slightest  trace  of  Pauline 
influence.  The  name  Clement  was  very  common,  and 
no  two  Clements  ought  to  be  identified  on  the  mere 
ground  that  they  bore  the  same  name.  A  second 
attempt  to  identify  Clement  has  been  made  in  modern 
times.  We  know  that  a  certain  Flavius  Clemens,  a 
consul  and  relative  of  the  Emperor  Domitian,  was 
sentenced  to  death  for  atheism  [i.e.  for  being  a  Christian] 


FIRST    EPISTLE    OF    CLEMENT    129 

during  the  time  of  the  persecution.  A  later  writing 
ascribed  to  Clement  of  Rome  (though  not  really  his) 
states  that  he  was  of  regal  extraction.  Putting  these 
two  facts  together,  many  scholars  have  concluded  that 
the  bishop  and  the  martyr  were  one  and  the  same 
person.  The  fatal  objection  to  this  hypothesis,  however, 
is  the  fact  that  there  is  absolutely  no  reference  in 
Christian  literature  or  tradition  to  the  martyrdom  of 
Clement  of  Rome  :  on  the  contrary,  Eusebius  distinctly 
asserts  that  he  died  a  natural  death  in  the  third  year 
of  Trajan's  reign.  We  are  driven,  therefore,  to  the 
conclusion  that  nothing  can  be  ascertained  with  regard 
to  Clement  of  Rome,  except  that  he  was  a  distinguished 
leader  in  the  Roman  Church,  and  in  later  days  was 
dignified  with  the  title  of  Bishop.  The  date  of  the 
Epistle  is  almost  unanimously  placed  in  a.d.  95-96. 

Value  of  the  Epistle. — It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
Epistle  of  Clement  possesses  a  very  great  intrinsic  value 
of  its  own.  The  style  is  diffuse  and  tedious,  and  the 
writer's  ideas  rarely  rise  above  the  commonplace.  The 
theology  is  conventional,  and  shows  but  little  apprecia- 
tion of  the  great  truths  which  constitute  the  essence  of 
the  teaching  of  St.  Paul.  It  is  not  easy  at  first  sight  to 
explain  the  attraction  which  the  Epistle  had  for  the 
early  Church.  Its  popularity  was  probably  due  :  (i)  to 
its  plain  and  simple  message ;  (2)  the  fact  that  its  ex- 
hortation to  unity  was  constantly  needed ;  (3)  its  antiquity, 

I 


I30      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

for  it  was  more  ancient  than  some  of  the  later  books  of 
the  New  Testament ;  (4)  its  Roman  origin,  which  in  later 
times,  when  the  Roman  Church  w^as  claiming  the  supre- 
macy, naturally  commended  it.  To-day  no  one  wo  aid 
put  in  a  plea  for  its  recognition  as  Scripture,  yet  from  a 
historical  point  of  view  the  Epistle  has  no  little  interest 
for  us.  {a)  It  is  probably  the  earliest  Christian  docu- 
ment outside  the  New  Testament,  (b)  It  gives  us  a 
very  good  conception  of  the  Christian  belief  at  the  time, 
and  proves  conclusively  that  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul 
had  not  yet  been  assimilated  by  the  Church,  {c)  It 
contains  an  explicit  reference  to  Paul's  first  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  and  gives  several  quotations  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  so  proves  that  these  books 
were  widely  circulated  and  recognised  before  the  close 
of  the  first  century. 

THE  TEACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES 

The  Didache  or  Teaching  of  the  Apostles  was  dis- 
covered in  1873  t)y  Bryennius,  an  ecclesiastic  of  the 
Greek  Church,  in  the  Jerusalem  Convent  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  published  ten  years  later.  We  have  abundant 
evidence  that  the  book  held  a  very  high  place  in  the 
regard  of  the  early  Church.  Clement  of  Alexandria  quotes 
it  as  Scripture.  It  is  mentioned  in  Athanasius'  list  of 
sacred  writings,  where  it  follows  immediately  after  Judith 


TEACHING   OF   THE   APOSTLES    131 

and  Tobit.  In  Eusebius'  classification  of  the  books 
which  claimed  recognition  in  the  Canon,  it  is  ranked  in 
the  class  of  "  the  rejected." 

Character  and  Contents. — The  book  falls  into  two 
parts,  which  are  only  loosely  connected  together.  The 
first  part,  known  as  "The  Two  Ways,"  is  an  ethical  tract 
setting  forth  the  contrast  between  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness and  unrighteousness,  "  the  way  of  life  "  and  "  the 
way  of  death."  It  gives  us  a  clear  exposition  of  the 
general  moral  teaching  of  the  early  Church.  Christians 
are  urged  to  follow  the  rule  of  forgiveness  and  charity 
as  laid  down  by  Jesus  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and 
warned  against  the  sins  forbidden  in  the  Decalogue  and 
in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  Paul.  The  second  part  of 
the  book  deals  with  the  institutions  of  the  Church.  It 
lays  down  regulations  for  the  rite  of  Baptism  and  the 
celebration  of  the  Agape.  It  gives  the  criteria  by  which 
the  true  teacher  can  be  distinguished  from  the  false, 
and  offers  advice  with  regard  to  fasting  and  the  election 
of  ministers. 

Date  of  the  Didache. — There  is  a  considerable  diver- 
gence of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  date  of  the  Didache. 
Some  scholars  place  it  as  early  as  a.d.  70  or  80.  Harnack 
thinks  that  it  did  not  assume  its  present  form  till  be- 
tween 130  and  160.  Harnack's  conclusions  are  based 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  author  of  the  Didache 
used  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  which,  according  to  him, 


132        THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

was  written  about  130.  This  assumption,  however,  is 
not  demonstrable.  The  undoubted  relation  between 
the  two  books  can  be  explained  in  other  ways.  The 
Didache  bears  on  its  face  clear  tokens  of  an  early  date. 
The  Lord's  Supper,  for  instance,  is  still  part  of  the  Agape  ; 
the  authority  of  the  bishop  has  not  yet  been  established  ; 
the  order  of  prophets  occupies  the  highest  rank  in  the 
Church.  The  book  was  evidently  written  during  a 
state  of  transition,  when  the  simple  organisation  of  the 
New  Testament  was  beginning  to  pass  over  into  the 
episcopal  form  of  government  which  was  almost  uni- 
versally adopted  before  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
The  Didache,  therefore,  seems  to  stand  half-way  between 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  and  the  Letters  of  Ignatius 
(a.d.  117).  We  shall  not  be  far  wrong  if  we  date  it 
about  A.D.  100,  though  it  may  have  been  written  a 
decade  or  two  earlier. 

The  Value  of  the  Didache. — The  Didache  is  a  treatise 
of  very  great  importance  from  a  historical  point  of  view. 
(a)  It  gives  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  ethical  teaching 
of  the  early  Church.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
it  was  originally  composed  as  a  manual  of  instruction 
for  catechumens  before  Baptism,  and  represents,  there- 
fore, the  teaching  which  was  given  to  new  converts  before 
their  admission  to  the  Church.  It  may  thus  be  said  to 
preserve  the  opinion  of  the  Church  in  the  last  decades 
of  the  first  century  with  regard  to  the  essential  truths  of 


TEACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES  133 

the  Christian  reHgion.  (2)  It  bridges  over  the  gap 
between  the  New  Testament  and  Patristic  literature, 
and  shows  us  how  the  organisation  and  simple  rites  of 
the  Apostolic  Church  were  beginning  to  pass  into  the 
elaborate  system  which  they  assumed  in  later  time. 
The  reference  to  Baptism,  for  instance,  is  very  inte- 
resting, because  it  reveals  to  us  the  way  in  which  the 
transition  from  immersion  to  aspersion  took  place. 
"  Baptize  "  (so  runs  the  regulation  of  the  Didache)  "  in 
running  water :  but  if  running  water  is  not  available, 
use  other  water.  If  you  cannot  baptize  in  cold  water, 
baptize  in  warm.  If  neither  is  possible,  pour  water 
over  the  head  [of  the  candidate]  thrice  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit."  (3)  It  gives 
us  an  interesting  description  of  the  Agape  and  Lord's 
Supper.  The  most  remarkable  feature  about  the  state- 
ment is  that,  in  the  prayers  which  are  given  for  use  on 
the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  Sacrament,  there 
is  no  allusion  at  all  to  the  redemptive  value  of  the 
death  of  Christ.  (4)  It  proves  conclusively  that  Lightfoot 
and  Hatch  were  right  in  maintaining  that  episcopacy  was 
not  the  earliest  form  of  Church  government,  but  only 
originated  in  the  second  century.  The  ministry  to  which 
the  greatest  importance  was  attached  at  first  was  that  of 
the  prophets.  In  the  Didache  the  influence  of  the  pro- 
phets is  beginning  to  wane,  and  there  are  already  signs 
that  their  place  is  beginning  to  be  taken  by  the  bishops. 


134     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

To  the  student  of  the  New  Testament,  therefore, 
who  is  anxious  to  form  some  conception  of  the  condition 
of  the  Church  at  the  close  of  the  Apostolic  age,  the 
Didache  is  a  document  of  supreme  value. 


THE  EPISTLE  OF   BARNABAS 

The  high  importance  which  was  attached  to  the 
Epistle  of  Barnabas  in  early  times  is  proved  by  the 
following  facts :  it  is  found  in  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  valuable  MSS.  of  the  New  Testament — the  Sinaitic 
— where  it  follows  immediately  after  the  Book  of  Revela- 
tion; Clement  of  Alexandria  (200)  frequently  quotes  it, 
and  ascribes  it  to  the  Apostle  Barnabas ;  Origen  (250) 
describes  it  as  the  "  Catholic  Epistle  of  Barnabas,"  and 
cites  it  as  Scripture. 

Contents. — The  Epistle  seems  to  be  addressed,  not  to 
the  members  of  a  particular  congregation,  but  to  the 
Church  as  a  whole.  Its  aim  and  purpose  are  defined 
by  its  author  thus  :  "  I  write  unto  you  that  along  with 
your  faith  ye  might  have  perfect  knowledge"  {gnosis). 
The  problem  with  which  the  book  deals  is  one  which 
is  familiar  to  readers  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
which  forms  the  theme  of  some  of  the  Epistles  of 
Paul  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  viz.  What 
attitude  ought  the  Church  to  adopt  towards  the 
Jewish  Law?     Is  the  legal  code  of  the  Old  Testament 


THE    EPISTLE    OF    BARNABAS      135 

binding  upon  Christians  ?  The  writer,  who  is  extremely 
anti-Judaistic,  takes  up  a  very  radical  position,  which 
he  attempts  to  substantiate  by  some  extremely  novel 
arguments,  (i)  He  shows  that  the  attacks  which  the 
prophets  made  upon  the  sacrificial  and  ceremonial 
system  prove  that  the  Jewish  code  could  not,  as 
ordinarily  interpreted,  be  of  Divine  origin.  (2)  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  Jews  had  definitely  rejected  the 
covenant  which  God  had  offered  to  Moses.  When 
Moses  broke  the  tables  of  stone,  it  meant  that  Israel 
had  refused  the  covenant.  (3)  The  Old  Testament, 
therefore,  is  not  a  Jewish  but  a  Christian  book,  and 
only  the  Christian  can  properly  interpret  it.  (4)  The 
true  interpretation  of  the  book  cannot  be  found  by 
taking  the  statements  literally.  We  must  look  below 
the  surface.  The  Old  Testament  is  an  allegory,  and 
it  is  only  when  it  is  treated  as  an  allegory  that  it  yields 
its  true  meaning.  When  we  read  it  aright,  we  find  that, 
far  from  being  anti-Christian,  it  proclaims  the  essential 
truths  of  the  Christian  faith.  (5)  The  writer  then  pro- 
ceeds to  work  out  his  principle,  and  gives  us  some  of 
the  most  interesting  illustrations  of  the  method  of 
allegorical  interpretation  found  in  the  literature  of  the 
Church.  Two  examples  may  be  given,  (a)  The  writer 
cites  inaccurately  the  statement  of  Genesis  with  regard 
to  the  318  servants  of  Abraham,  and  asks.  Why  318.^ 
There  must  be  a  mystical  explanation,  he  says,  lying 


136      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

behind  the  number.  The  Greek  equivalent  for  the 
number  318  is  formed  of  the  letters  TIH.  Now  T 
obviously  represents  the  Cross,  and  IH  are  the  first  two 
letters  of  the  word  Jesus  (it  should  be  noted  that,  in 
Greek,  H  is  the  form  used  to  denote  capital  E  long). 
The  318,  therefore,  typifies  the  death  of  Christ  upon  the 
Cross.  (If)  Equally  remarkable  is  the  writer's  explana- 
tion of  forbidden  foods.  "  Moses  spoke  with  a  mystical 
reference.  '  Neither  shalt  thou  eat,'  says  he,  '  the 
eagle,  nor  the  hawk,  nor  the  kite,  nor  the  raven.'  Thou 
shalt  not  join  thyself,  he  means,  to  such  men  as  know 
not  how  to  procure  food  for  themselves  by  labour  and 
sweat,  but  seize  on  that  of  others  in  their  iniquity." 

Author  and  Date. — The  traditional  view  which  ascribes 
the  book  to  the  Apostle  Barnabas  is  very  improbable, 
and  has  now  been  almost  universally  rejected.  The 
main  grounds  for  the  rejection  are  :  (a)  The  mistakes 
which  the  writer  makes  in  describing  Jewish  ritual 
would  be  incomprehensible  if  the  Epistle  were  written 
by  a  Levite  like  Barnabas.  (<^)  The  rabid  anti-Judaism 
of  the  Epistle  is  quite  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Barnabas 
— at  least,  if  the  picture  of  him  which  is  drawn  by  the 
writer  of  Acts  is  true,  {c)  The  Epistle  exhibits  none  of 
the  characteristics  which  we  should  naturally  expect  to 
find  in  a  book  written  by  the  Barnabas  of  Acts. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  controversy  amongst  scholars 
with  regard  to  the  date  of  the  Epistle.     Many  place  it 


THE    EPISTLE    OF    BARNABAS      137 

in  the  decade  following  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
Others  (among  them  Harnack)  date  it  about  130.  The 
present  writer  is  inclined  to  accept  the  latter  view,  on 
the  following  grounds :  {a)  There  is  no  direct  reference 
to  or  connection  with  the  Apostolic  age  in  the  Epistle. 
Its  whole  tone  seems  to  breathe  the  spirit  of  the  second 
century  rather  than  the  first,  {b)  The  writer  makes  a 
definite  quotation  from  Matthew,  which  he  introduces 
by  the  formula,  "  it  is  written,"  implying  that  he  regarded 
the  source  from  which  the  citation  was  taken  as  Scripture. 
Matthew  could  scarcely  have  been  quoted  as  Scripture 
before  the  second  century,  {c)  The  writer's  statement 
in  chap,  xvi.,  "They  who  pulled  down  the  Temple  shall 
built  it  up,"  seems  to  refer  to  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Temple,  which  took  place  in  130. 

Value  of  the  Epistle. — The  chief  value  of  the  Epistle 
for  us  to-day  lies  in  :  {a)  The  fact  that  it  proves  that  the 
Old  Testament  constituted  a  serious  problem  in  the 
minds  of  the  early  Christians.  If  the  Old  Testament 
was  divinely  inspired,  why  should  not  its  injunctions 
still  be  enforced?  The  Epistle  gives  us  one  solution 
of  the  problem — a  solution  which  in  different  forms 
has  always  been  popular  in  the  Church,  {b)  The  illus- 
trations which  it  gives  of  the  application  of  the  allegori- 
cal method  of  interpreting  Scripture — a  method  which 
obtained  great  vogue  in  the  Church,  and  some  traces 
of  which  are  found  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 


138     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

THE  SHEPHERD   OF    HERMAS 

No  book  outside  the  New  Testament  was  more  popu- 
lar in  the  ancient  Church  than  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas. 
It  is  found  in  the  famous  Codex  Sinaiticus  at  the  close  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  several  other  MSS.  besides. 
Irenseus  (i8o)  quotes  it  as  Scripture.  Origen  (250)  re- 
gards it  as  "  divinely  inspired."  Eusebius  (330),  though 
he  refuses  to  recognise  it  as  canonical,  says  that  "  it  was 
publicly  read  in  churches,"  and  "  deemed  most  necessary 
for  those  who  have  need  of  elementary  instruction." 

Contents. — The  book  falls  into  three  divisions,  con- 
sisting respectively  of  {a)  visions,  (b)  commandments, 
{c)  parables,  {a)  In  the  first  part  Hermas  relates  fve 
visions  which  came  to  him  at  different  times.  The 
visions  are  of  different  kinds.  The  first,  for  instance, 
the  vision  of  Rhoda,  his  former  mistress,  is  intended 
to  impress  upon  Hermas  the  sinfulness  of  unchaste 
thoughts.  In  another,  an  old  woman,  who  represents 
the  Church,  appears  to  Hermas  and  reproaches  him 
for  his  failure  to  restrain  his  wife  and  children  from 
folly  and  sin.  The  reason  why  the  Church  was  por- 
trayed as  an  old  woman  is  explained  thus :  "  She  was 
created  first  of  all,  and  for  her  sake  the  world  was  made." 
In  the  last  vision  Hermas  sees  "a  man  of  glorious 
aspect  dressed  like  a  shepherd,"  who  teaches  him  the 
commandments  and  parables  which  form  the  remaining 


THE    SHEPHERD    OF    HER  MAS     139 

part  of  the  book.  It  is  from  this  vision  that  the  book 
gets  its  name.  {b)  The  cof?imand?nents  contain  an 
interesting  epitome  of  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  Church 
of  the  second  century.  They  emphasise  the  following 
virtues  and  graces  of  the  Christian  life  :  belief  in  God, 
simplicity  of  life,  truthfulness,  chastity,  forbearance,  the 
fear  of  God,  temperance,  cheerful  trust  in  God,  con- 
fidence in  prayer,  the  necessity  of  discerning  between 
true  and  false  prophets,  &:c.  {c)  The  third  part  of  the 
book  consists  of  a  number  of  disconnected  parables  and 
similitudes  intended  to  enforce  the  main  teaching  of 
the  book.  The  parable  of  the  vine  and  the  elm,  for 
instance,  is  used  to  enforce  the  lesson  that  the  rich  man 
is  helped  by  the  prayers  of  the  poor.  The  fact  that  in 
winter  all  trees  look  alike,  and  the  living  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  dead,  is  used  to  show^  the  impossibility 
of  judging  the  real  character  of  men  in  this  life. 

Authorship  and  Date. — Some  of  the  Patristic  writers 
thought  that  the  book  was  written  by  the  Hermas  men- 
tioned by  Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (xvi.  14). 
This  view,  however,  is  quite  impossible,  and  finds  no 
support  in  modern  times.  There  is  a  much  more  prob- 
able account  of  the  origin  of  the  book  in  the  Muratorian 
Fragment  (about  170) :  "The  Shepherd  w^as  written  very 
recently  in  our  times  by  Hermas  during  the  bishopric 
of  his  brother  Pius."  This  would  make  the  date  about 
140.      There   is    one  great    objection    to    this    theory : 


I40      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

in  the  second  vision  Hermas  mentions  a  man  named 
Clement,  who  is  generally  identified  with  Clement  of 
Rome.  Clement  of  Rome  could  not  have  been  living, 
as  the  passage  implies  he  was,  at  as  late  a  date  as  140. 
Hence  many  modern  scholars  reject  the  statement  of 
the  Muratorian  Fragment,  and  date  the  book  about  100. 
Probably  the  best  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  to  suppose, 
with  Harnack,  that  the  book  in  its  present  form  was 
written  about  140,  but  that  it  embodies  elements  of  a 
much  earlier  origin,  some  of  which  may  go  back  to  the 
commencement  of  the  century. 

Value  of  the  Book. — The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  has 
been  very  aptly  called  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress "  of  the 
early  Church.  Like  the  great  allegory  of  Bunyan,  it 
tries  to  enforce  religious  truth  by  visions  and  illustrations 
and  parables.  The  book  is  valuable  for  us  because : 
{a)  It  shows  the  literary  devices  to  which  early  teachers 
resorted  in  order  to  make  their  teaching  easy  to  under- 
stand. (If)  It  contains  an  excellent  manual  of  the 
ethical  teaching  which  was  in  vogue  in  the  Church  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  (c)  Like  all  the  other 
literature  of  the  period,  it  proves  the  insignificant  in- 
fluence which  the  theology  of  Paul  had  as  yet  exerted 
over  the  thought  of  the  Church.  Nothing  is  more  remark- 
able in  early  Christian  literature  than  the  almost  complete 
eclipse  of  Paul.  Paulinism  never  held  the  place  in  early 
theology  which  has  been  assigned  to  it  in  Protestantism. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE   APOCRYPHAL   GOSPELS 

The  Apocryphal  Gospels,  as  we  have  seen,  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes  :  (i)  Those  which  possibly 
preserve  elements  of  genuine  tradition.  (2)  Heretical 
Gospels,  i.e.  Gospels  in  which  the  narrative  has  been  pur- 
posely altered  to  suit  the  tenets  of  some  heretical  sect.  (3) 
Legendary  Gospels,  which  embroider  the  account  of  the 
beginning  and  end  of  Christ's  life  with  fictitious  stories. 

THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO  THE   HEBREWS 

The  only  Gospel  which  has  any  serious  claim  to  be 
regarded  as  genuine  and  reliable  is  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  the  Hebrews.  Unfortunately,  however,  we  only 
possess  a  few  fragments  of  it,  culled  from  the  writings  of 
various  Fathers  of  the  Church.  The  most  important 
and  interesting  of  these  are  : — 

{a)  Two  references  to  the  Baptism  of  Jesus.  "  Lo, 
the  mother  of  the  Lord  and  his  brethren  said  to  him, 
John  the  Baptist  is  baptizing  for  the  remission  of  sins  ; 


142      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

let  us  go  and  be  baptized  by  him.  But  he  said,  What  sin 
have  I  committed  that  I  should  go  and  be  baptized 
by  him,  unless  perchance  this  very  word  which  I  have 
spoken  is  a  sin  of  ignorance." 

"  Now  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  had  come 
up  out  of  the  water,  the  Holy  Spirit  with  full  stream 
came  down  and  rested  upon  him  and  said  to  him.  My 
son,  in  all  the  prophets  I  was  waiting  for  thee,  that  thou 
shouldest  come  and  I  might  rest  in  thee,  for  thou  art 
my  rest.  Thou  art  my  first-born  son,  who  reignest  for 
ever." 

(b)  An  extract  containing  an  account  of  the  visit  of 
the  rich  young  man  to  Christ,  which  proceeds  upon 
the  lines  of  Matt.  xix.  16-22,  but  adds  the  following 
words  : — 

"  But  the  rich  man  began  to  scratch  his  head,  and  it 
did  not  please  him.  And  the  Lord  said  to  him,  How 
sayest  thou,  I  have  fulfilled  the  law  and  the  prophets,  since 
it  is  written  in  the  law,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself,  and  lo  !  many  of  thy  brethren,  sons  of  Abraham, 
are  clothed  in  filth,  dying  of  hunger,  and  thy  home  is 
full  of  many  goods  and  nothing  at  all  goes  out  to 
them." 

{c)  A  fragment  recording  the  appearance  of  Jesus  to 
James  after  the  Resurrection  : — 

"  Now  the  Lord,  when  he  had  given  the  cloth  to  the 
servant  of  the  priest,  went  to  James  and  appeared  to 


GOSPEL    TO    THE    HEBREWS     143 

him.  For  James  had  taken  an  oath  that  he  would  not 
eat  bread  from  that  hour  on  which  he  had  drunk  the 
cup  of  the  Lord  till  he  saw  him  rising  from  the  dead. 
[And  the  Lord  said]  Bring  a  table  and  bread.  And 
he  took  the  bread,  and  blessed  and  brake,  and  afterwards 
gave  it  to  James  the  Just,  and  said  to  him.  My  brother, 
eat  thy  bread,  for  the  Son  of  Man  has  risen  from  that 
sleep." 

{d)  The  following  post  -  Resurrection  utterance  of 
Jesus : — 

"  Take  hold,  handle  me,  and  see  that  I  am  not  an 
incorporeal  spirit." 

{e)  A  few  sayings  of  Jesus  : — 

"  He  that  wonders  shall  reign  and  he  that  reigns  shall 
rest." 

"  Never  be  joyful  except  when  ye  shall  look  upon 
your  brother  in  love." 

Origin  of  the  Gospel. — The  question  of  the  origin  of 
the  Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  has  been  a  matter  of  keen 
debate  amongst  scholars  in  recent  times.  There  are 
several  views,  (i)  Some  of  the  ancient  Fathers  regarded 
the  Gospel  as  the  original  of  our  Matthew.  Jerome,  for 
instance,  says,  "  Vocatur  a  plerisque  Matthcei  authenti- 
cum."  Judging  from  the  fragments  which  have  been 
preserved,  this  view  seems  quite  untenable,  as  they  bear 
very  little  relation  to  our  Gospel  of  Matthew.  (2)  For 
the  same  reason  the  view  of  some  modern  scholars,  that 


144      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

the  Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  was  a  version  of  our  Matthew, 
made  in  the  interest  of  Jewish  Christians,  seems  equally 
out  of  the  question.  (3)  The  Gospel  has  been  identified 
with  the  original  Logia,  or  Collection  of  the  Sayings  of 
Jesus,  which  was  one  of  the  main  sources  out  of  which 
our  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Luke  were  composed. 
This  view,  however,  is  a  pure  hypothesis,  and  does  not 
seem  to  rest  on  any  substantial  basis.  (4)  The  theory 
which  seems  to  be  most  in  favour  with  critics  to-day 
maintains  that  the  Gospel  is  an  independent  version  of 
the  Gospel  narrative  based  on  the  same  sources  which 
underlie  our  Synoptics.  It  was  originally  written  in 
Aramaic,  and  was  composed  to  suit  the  needs  of  the 
Jewish  Christian  congregations  of  Palestine.  It  never 
secured  much  of  a  circulation  outside  Palestine,  and  as 
Palestinian  Christianity  sank  into  comparative  insignifi- 
cance, the  Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  attracted  little  atten- 
tion, and  gradually  fell  into  disfavour. 

Date  and  Value  of  the  Gospel. — There  is  a  marked 
tendency  amongst  modern  scholars  to  attach  a  very  early 
date  to  the  Gospel.  Harnack,  for  instance,  places  it 
between  a.d.  65  and  100,  thus  making  it  coeval  with  our 
Synoptics  and  earlier  than  the  Fourth  Gospel.  This  con- 
clusion is  largely  based  upon  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  is 
definitely  mentioned  by  Hegesippus  (170)  and  quoted  by 
Ignatius  (115).  If  Harnack  is  right,  then  the  fragments 
of  the  Gospel  become  exceedingly  valuable,  and  must  be 


GOSPEL    OF    ST.    PETER 


145 


taken  into  consideration  in  every  attempt  to  construct  a 
life  of  Christ.  The  fragments  which  deal  with  the 
Baptism  and  Resurrection  of  Jesus  are  particularly  im- 
portant. 

HERETICAL  GOSPELS 
I.  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO   ST.    PETER 

The  most  interesting  of  all  the  heretical  Gospels  is 
that  ascribed  to  Peter,  a  large  fragment  of  which  was 
recently  discovered  by  the  French  Archaeological  Mission, 
in  a  tomb  at  Akmim  (Pentapolis),  in  Upper  Egypt,  and 
published  in  1892.  The  fragment,  unfortunately,  only 
covers  the  last  scenes  in  the  life  of  Christ.  It  begins 
with  the  trial  before  Pilate,  and  ends  with  the  visit  of 
the  women  to  the  empty  tomb  on  Easter  morning. 

Character  of  the  Gospel. — The  Gospel  of  Peter  is  a 
version  of  the  life  of  Christ  written  in  the  interest  of  the 
Doketic  heresy.  The  Doketists  held  a  peculiar  theory 
with  regard  to  Christ.  They  thought  that  Divinity  and 
humanity  could  not  co-exist  in  one  person,  and  that  the 
humanity  was  therefore  not  real,  but  merely  apparent. 
A  God  could  not  be  born  or  suffer  hunger  or  be  put  to 
death.  The  Divine  Christ,  therefore,  descended  into  a 
human  form  after  the  Baptism  and  ascended  into  heaven 
again  before  the  Crucifixion.  In  order  to  substantiate 
this  view  there  were  many  points  in  the  Gospel  narrative 

K 


146      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

which  needed  amendment,  and  the  Gospel  of  Peter 
affords  us  some  interesting  illustrations  of  the  freedom 
with  which  heretics  treated  the  Gospel  story.  The  most 
startling  alteration  is  found  in  the  treatment  of  the  cry 
of  Christ  upon  the  Cross,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  This,  of  course,  is  a  flat  contra- 
diction to  the  Doketic  position,  and  so  the  words  are 
changed  into  "  My  power,  my  power,  thou  hast  forsaken 
me  " — an  allusion  to  the  departure  of  the  Divine  Christ 
before  the  Crucifixion.  In  the  account  of  the  Crucifixion, 
too,  the  statement  is  made  that  Jesus  "  held  his  peace,  as 
having  no  pain."  This  is  another  feature  of  the  Doketic 
position.  The  body  in  which  the  Divine  Christ  dwelt 
is  regarded  as  incapable  of  suffering.  Another  marked 
characteristic  of  the  Gospel  is  the  antipathy  which  it 
exhibits  towards  the  Jews.  The  whole  responsibility  for 
the  Crucifixion  is  placed  upon  their  shoulders.  Pilate  is 
completely  exonerated  from  any  share  in  the  blame. 
After  the  Crucifixion  they  are  represented  as  coming  to 
their  senses  and  lamenting  their  crime.  "  Then  the 
Jews  .  .  .  began  to  lament  and  say,  Woe  for  our  sins : 
for  the  judgment  and  the  end  of  Jerusalem  hath  drawn 
nigh."  The  Gospel  contains  some  expansions  of  the 
ordinary  narrative,  which  are  evidently  due  to  legendary 
accretion.  The  most  famous  is  the  account  which  it 
gives  of  the  actual  Resurrection  of  Jesus  : — 

"And   in   the  night   in   which  the  Lord's   day  was 


GOSPEL    OF    ST.    PETER  147 

drawing  on,  as  the  soldiers  kept  watch  two  by  two  on 
guard,  there  was  a  great  voice  from  heaven :  and  they 
saw  the  heavens  opened  and  two  men  descending  thence 
with  a  great  Hght  and  approaching  the  tomb.  And  that 
stone  which  was  put  at  the  door  rolled  away  of  itself 
and  departed  to  one  side,  and  both  the  young  men 
entered  in.  When,  therefore,  the  soldiers  saw  it,  they 
awakened  the  centurions  and  the  elders,  for  they  too 
were  hard  by  keeping  watch.  And  as  they  declared 
what  things  they  had  seen,  again  they  see  coming  forth 
from  the  tomb  three  men,  and  two  supporting  the  one, 
and  a  Cross  following  them.  And  of  the  two  the  head 
reached  unto  the  heaven,  but  the  head  of  him.  that  was 
led  by  them  overpassed  the  heavens.  And  they  heard  a 
voice  from  the  heavens  saying,  Hast  thou  preached  to 
them  that  sleep?  And  an  answer  was  heard  from  the 
Cross,  Yea." 

The  last  sentence  is  particularly  interesting,  as  it 
illustrates  the  statements  in  i  Pet.  iii.  19,  iv.  6,  which 
assert  that  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  "the  spirits  in 
prison." 

Date  of  the  Gospel  of  Peter. — Harnack  regards  the 
Gospel  as  a  very  early  production,  dating  it  between  no 
and  130.  The  grounds  upon  which  he  arrives  at  this 
conclusion  are :  (a)  The  Gospel  was  used  by  Justin 
Martyr  (150).  {^)  The  account  of  the  Resurrection 
implies   an  early  date,   because  the  scene    of  Christ's 


148      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

appearance  to  the  disciples  is  laid  in  Galilee  and  not 
in  Jerusalem.  Harnack  attaches  a  great  deal  of  value 
to  the  Gospel,  and  looks  upon  it  as  a  source  "  of  first 
importance,"  after  our  canonical  Gospels.  Though 
Harnack's  date  has  many  supporters,  a  large  number 
of  scholars  think  that  we  must  place  the  Gospel  later, 
between  150  and  170,  since  its  use  by  Justin  Martyr 
cannot  be  proved. 


II.  OTHER  HERETICAL  GOSPELS 

The  Gospel  of  the  Ebionites  has  often  been  identified 
with  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  on  the 
strength  of  certain  statements  in  Jerome  and  Epiphanius, 
who  certainly  confused  the  two  narratives.  Harnack, 
however,  has  clearly  shown  that  the  Gospel  of  the 
Ebionites  is  quite  a  distinct  production.  Only  a  few 
fragments  of  it  remain.  They  may  be  found  in 
Westcott's  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels," 
pp.  471-473.  The  fragments  prove  :  (i)  That  the  Gospel 
was  originally  ascribed  to  Matthew,  since  Matthew  is 
personally  addressed  in  the  second  person  by  Jesus. 
"Thee,  Matthew,  I  called,  as  thou  wert  sitting  at  the 
receipt  of  custom."  (2)  That  the  Gospel  was  written  in 
the  interest  of  a  sect  which  held  vegetarian  principles. 
In  the  account  of  John  the  Baptist,  it  is  said  that  his 
food   consisted   of  wild    honey  and   honey-cakes — the 


OTHER    HERETICAL    GOSPELS     149 

latter  term  being  substituted  for  the  "locusts"  of  the 
Gospel  narrative.  The  change  is  effected  by  the 
alteration  of  a  couple  of  letters,  the  Greek  word  for 
locusts  being  akridas  and  for  honey-cakes  egkridas. 
For  the  same  reason  the  statement  of  Luke  xxii.  15, 
"  With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this  Passover," 
is  changed  into  an  interrogative :  "  Have  I  desired  to  eat 
this  flesh,  the  Passover,  with  you?"  The  date  of  the 
Gospel  is  placed  by  Harnack  between  180  and  200. 

The  Gospel  according  to  the  Egyptians. — Harnack 
regards  this  Gospel  as  a  document  of  the  highest  value. 
He  thinks  that  it  was  originally  written,  as  a  counter- 
blast to  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews,  for  the 
use  of  Gentile  Christians.  Unfortunately  we  have  only 
two  authenticated  excerpts  from  it :  {a)  A  sentence  pre- 
served in  Epiphanius,  which  attributes  to  Christ  the 
saying,  to  which  so  much  importance  was  attached  by 
the  author  of  the  Sabellian  heresy,  that  "  one  and  the 
same  Being  was  alike  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit." 
{h)  An  important  extract  preserved  in  Clement  of 
Alexandria : — 

"  When  Salome  asked.  How  long  will  death  prevail  ? 
the  Lord  said.  As  long  as  ye  women  bear  children : 
for  I  have  come  to  destroy  the  functions  of  women. 
And  Salome  said  to  him,  Did  I  well,  then,  in  not  bearing 
children?  And  the  Lord  answered  and  said,  Eat  of 
every  herb,  but  do  not  eat  of  that  which  is  bitter.     And 


I50      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

when  Salome  asked  when  the  things  would  be  known 
about  which  she  had  inquired,  the  Lord  said,  When  ye 
have  trampled  upon  the  garment  of  shame,  and  when  the 
two  shall  be  one  and  the  male  with  the  female  neither 
male  nor  female." 

This  quotation  shows  that  the  Gospel  was  written  in 
the  interest  of  a  sect  which  regarded  marriage  as  a  sin. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  these  two  quotations  constitute 
our  only  authenticated  information  with  regard  to  the 
contents  of  the  Gospel,  Harnack  thinks  that  it  is 
possible  to  extend  our  knowledge,  and  claims  for  it 
certain  other  anonymous  quotations  which  are  found 
elsewhere.  In  the  so-called  Second  Epistle  of  Clement 
of  Rome,  which  is  really  a  homily  (ascribed  by  Harnack 
to  Bishop  Soter  of  Rome,  about  170),  there  are  a 
number  of  citations,  giving  sayings  of  Jesus,  some  of 
which  cannot  be  traced  back  to  any  known  source. 
One  of  them  corresponds  in  many  particulars  to  the 
authenticated  fragment  from  the  Gospel  according  to 
the  Egyptians  quoted  above.  Upon  the  basis  of  the 
identity  of  these  two  excerpts  Harnack  argues  that  (i) 
all  the  other  quotations  come  from  the  same  source, 
(2)  and  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  is  so  largely  drawn 
upon  by  a  Roman  bishop  proves  the  exalted  position 
which  it  held  in  the  estimation  of  the  Church. 
Harnack's  arguments,  however,  are  not  conclusive. 
The  quotation  in  II.  Clement,  upon  which  he  relies  for 


THE    "SAYINGS    OF    JESUS"     151 

the  identification,  has  many  remarkable  dissimilarities 
from  the  authenticated  fragment,  which  must  make  us 
pause  before  we  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  they  come 
from  the  same  source ;  and  even  if  the  identity  of  the 
two  could  be  maintained,  there  would  still  be  no  proof 
that  the  other  citations  in  II.  Clement  were  taken  from 
the  same  Gospel.  On  the  whole,  it  must  be  said  that 
Harnack's  position  is  "not  proven."  His  attempt  to 
rehabilitate  the  Gospel  to  the  Egyptians  cannot  be 
regarded  as  successful.  The  most  probable  view  is  still 
that  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  who  describe  it  as  a  heretical 
Gospel  written  in  the  interests  of  the  Sabellians  and 
Encratites.  Harnack's  date,  too,  seems  far  too  early. 
He  places  it  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  certainly  earlier  than 
130.  The  Gospel  could  scarcely  have  originated,  how- 
ever, before  150. 

THE  NEWLY-DISCOVERED  "SAYINGS  OF 
JESUS" 

In  1897  a  papyrus  fragment  was  discovered,  in  the 
mounds  of  Oxyrhynchus,  an  Egyptian  town  on  the  edge 
of  the  Libyan  desert  120  miles  south  of  Cairo,  contain- 
ing seven  or  eight  "  Sayings  of  Jesus." 

The  most  important  of  these  "  Sayings  "  are  as  follows  : 

"  Jesus  saith.  Except  ye  fast  to  the  world,  ye  shall  in 

no  wise  find  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and  except  ye  make 

the  Sabbath  a  real  Sabbath  ye  shall  not  see  the  Father." 


152      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

*' Jesus  saith,  I  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  world,  and  in 
the  flesh  was  I  seen  of  them,  and  I  found  all  men 
drunken,  and  none  found  I  athirst  among  them,  and  my 
soul  grieveth  over  the  sons  of  men,  because  they  are 
blind  in  their  heart." 

"  Jesus  saith,  Wherever  there  are  (two),  they  are  not 
without  God,  and  wherever  there  is  one  alone,  I  say,  I 
am  with  him.  Raise  the  stone  and  there  thou  shalt 
find  me ;  cleave  the  wood,  and  there  am  I." 

"  Jesus  saith,  A  prophet  is  not  acceptable  in  his  own 
country,  neither  doth  a  physician  work  cures  upon  them 
that  know  him." 

In  1904  further  excavations  at  Oxyrhynchus  brought 
to  light  another  papyrus  leaf  with  five  more  "  Sayings," 
the  most  interesting  of  which  are  the  following  : — 

"  Jesus  saith,  Let  not  him  who  seeks  cease  until  he 
finds,  and  when  he  finds  he  shall  be  astonished ; 
astonished  he  shall  reach  the  kingdom,  and  having  the 
kingdom  he  shall  rest." 

"  Jesus  saith,  Ye  ask.  Who  are  those  that  draw  us  to  the 
kingdom  if  the  kingdom  is  in  heaven  ?  The  fowls  of  the 
air,  and  all  beasts  that  are  under  the  earth,  and  the  fishes 
of  the  sea,  these  are  they  which  draw  you,  and  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you,  and  whosoever  shall 
know  himself  shall  find  it.  Strive,  therefore,  to  know 
yourselves  and  ye  shall  be  aware  that  ye  are  the  sons  of 
the  Father,  and  ye  shall  know  .  .  ." 


THE    "SAYINGS    OF    JESUS"      153 

"Jesus  saith,  Everything  that  is  not  before  thy  face 
and  that  which  is  hidden  from  thee  shall  be  revealed 
to  thee,  for  there  is  nothing  hidden  which  shall  not  be 
made  manifest,  nor  buried  which  shall  not  be  raised." 

These  "  Sayings  "  constitute  a  very  interesting  problem 
in  criticism,  which  cannot  at  present  be  said  to  have 
found  a  satisfactory  solution.  It  is  easier  to  ask  the 
questions  which  naturally  come  into  the  mind  when  we 
read  them — e.g.  Whence  did  they  originate  and  what  is 
their  value  ? — than  it  is  to  supply  an  answer.  We  shall 
probably  have  to  wait  for  other  "  finds ''  before  we 
obtain  the  clue  which  will  enable  us  to  give  a  sure 
explanation  of  the  "Sayings."  Upon  one  point,  how- 
ever, there  seems  to  be  a  general  agreement  amongst 
scholars,  viz.  that  the  "Sayings"  belong  to  a  very  early 
date.  A.D.  140  is  given  as  the  latest  possible  time  at 
which  they  could  have  come  into  existence,  and  they 
may  possibly  be  considerably  earlier  than  that ;  some 
scholars  suppose  that  they  go  back  to  the  first  century. 
Upon  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  "  Sayings  "  there 
is  the  utmost  divergence  of  opinion  amongst  scholars. 
Some  suppose  that  they  are  extracts  from  one  of  the 
Apocryphal  Gospels.  Harnack,  for  instance,  thinks  that 
they  are  excerpts  from  the  Gospel  of  the  Egyptians — a 
theory  which  is  based  upon  his  more  than  doubtful 
reconstruction  of  the  Gospel  in  question.  Others  suggest 
the  Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  or  the  Gospel  of  Thomas  as 


154      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

the  source  from  which  they  were  taken.  Others  again, 
regard  them  as  a  cento  of  quotations  taken  not  from 
a  single  Gospel  but  from  several.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  out  a  convincing  case  for  any  of  these  theories. 
There  are  no  Gospels  with  which  we  are  familiar  which 
seem  altogether  to  suit  the  character  of  the  "  Sayings." 
On  the  w^hole,  opinion  seems  to  be  coming  round  to  the 
view  that  the  papyri  represent  an  independent  collection 
of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  of  very  early  origin.  There  is 
nothing  to  show  that  the  collection  was  made  in  the 
interests  of  any  heresy  or  schism  in  the  Church.  We 
seem  to  find  in  the  papyri  an  illustration  and  example 
of  the  Logia,  or  collections  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus,  which 
we  know  must  have  been  the  earliest  form,  or  one  of  the 
earliest  forms,  in  which  the  Christian  tradition  took 
shape.  To  what  extent  the  "Sayings"  of  the  papyri 
preserve  authentic  utterances  of  Jesus  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. As  far  as  our  present  fragments  are  concerned, 
there  seems  to  be  no  motive  which  explains  the  invention 
of  "  the  sayings,"  though  of  course,  if  we  had  larger  data 
to  go  upon,  perhaps  the  key  to  the  riddle  might  be  found. 
If  further  discoveries  do  not  reveal  the  hand  of  the 
heretic,  or  suggest  a  clue  which  can  account  for  the  manu- 
facture of  the  "  Sayings,"  we  shall  be  warranted  in  sup- 
posing that  the  collection  preserves  genuine  elements 
of  tradition,  and  so  is  a  document  which  the  student  of 
the  Gospels  is  bound  to  take  into  account. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE  APOCRYPHAL  GOSPELS  {continued) 

THE  LEGENDARY  GOSPELS 

We  possess  some  twenty-two  documents  —  most  of 
them  belonging  to  a  late  date — which  expand  certain 
parts  of  the  history  of  Christ's  life  by  the  addition  of 
legendary  embellishments.  They  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes  :  {a)  Those  which  deal  with  the  history 
of  Joseph  and  Mary  before  the  birth  of  Jesus,  {p) 
Those  which  deal  with  the  infancy  and  boyhood  of 
Jesus,     {c)  Those  which  relate  to  the  history  of  Pilate. 

I.   THE  GOSPELS  OF  THE  VIRGIN  BIRTH 

I.  The  most  important  of  the  first  class  of  legendary 
Gospels  is  the  book  known  as  the  Protevangelium  of 
James.  This  title  does  not  appear  in  the  document 
itself,  but  was  given  to  it  by  Postel,  who  published  the 
modern  version  of  it  in  Latin  in  1552.  The  book  is 
extant  in  Greek,  Syriac,  and  Coptic  versions,  and  we 
possess  no  less  than  fifty  MSS.  of  it  altogether.  The 
book  may  be  divided  into  three  parts  :  {a)  The  story  of 
Mary  before  the  birth  of  Jesus.     Mary  is  the  daughter 


156      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

of  Joachim  and  Anna,  who  were  childless  till  late  in 
life.  They  vowed  that,  if  God  would  give  them  a 
child,  they  would  dedicate  it  to  His  service.  When 
Mary  was  three  years  old,  they  took  her  to  the  Temple, 
and  placed  her  in  the  charge  of  the  priests.  When 
she  reached  the  age  of  twelve,  the  priests,  fearing  the 
responsibility  of  keeping  a  marriageable  girl  in  the 
Temple,  resolved  to  place  her  in  the  charge  of  a  widower. 
Joseph  is  miraculously  chosen  for  the  task,  and  Mary  is 
placed  in  his  keeping.  (^)  The  account  of  the  miraculous 
birth.  The  document  follows  in  the  main  the  narrative 
of  Luke,  though  there  are  some  important  legendary  addi- 
tions, e.g,  the  ordeal  imposed  on  Joseph  and  Mary  of 
drinking  "  the  waters  of  jealousy,"  the  unbelief  of  Salome, 
&c.  (^)  The  story  of  Zacharias.  At  the  time  of  the 
slaughter  of  the  Innocents,  Elizabeth  and  the  child  John 
are  miraculously  saved  by  the  opening  of  a  mountain,  which 
effectually  conceals  them  from  their  pursuers.  Zacharias, 
refusing  to  give  information  as  to  their  hiding-place,  is 
murdered  by  command  of  Herod.  The  utmost  diversity 
of  opinion  exists  among  scholars  with  regard  to  the  date 
of  the  Protevangelium.  There  are  some,  e.g.  Zahn  and 
Kriiger,  who  regard  it  as  a  very  early  document,  and  place 
it  in  the  first  decade  of  the  second  century  (loo-iio). 
Others  go  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  hold  that  it 
belongs  to  the  fourth  century.  Harnack  strikes  out  a 
mediating  position.     He  thinks  that  the  Protevangelium 


GOSPELS    OF    VIRGIN    BIRTH     157 

is  made  up  of  three  separate  documents,  (i)  The  story 
of  Mary  (which  is,  properly  speaking,  the  Book  of  James) 
was  written  a  little  before  250.  (2)  The  account  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus  probably  belongs  to  the  end  of  the 
second  century  or  the  commencement  of  the  third.  (3) 
The  Book  of  Zacharias  dates  from  the  opening  decades 
of  the  third  century.  He  agrees,  however,  with  the  pre- 
valent opinion,  that  in  its  present  form  the  book  does 
not  go  back  beyond  350.  The  author  of  the  Gospel  was 
evidently  a  Jewish  Christian,  as  is  clearly  proved  from 
the  interest  which  he  takes  in  Jewish  rites  and  ceremonieSo 
This,  however,  does  not  prevent  him  from  falling  at  times 
into  serious  anachronisms.  The  narrative  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  written  in  the  interest  of  any  doctrinal  or 
ecclesiastical  theory.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
the  writer  advocated  the  Adoration  of  the  Virgin,  though 
the  book  certainly  bears  witness  to  the  increasing  sanctity 
which  was  attached  to  her. 

2.  The  Gospel  of  the  Pseudo-Matthew  is  laigely 
based  upon  the  Protevangelium  of  James,  the  grciater 
part  of  which  it  embodies.  It  carries  the  story  to  a 
later  date,  giving  an  account  of  the  visit  to  Egypt,  and 
recounting  many  miraculous  incidents  in  the  later  boy 
hood  of  Jesus.  It  adds  many  new  legendary  elements 
to  the  narrative  of  the  Protevangelium.  For  instance,  it 
describes  the  adoration  paid  by  the  ox  and  ass  to  the 
infant  Jesus  as  He  lay  in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem,  and 


158      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

says  that  this  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  "  The 
ox  knoweth  his  owner  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib." 
The  Gospel  also  describes  many  miraculous  events  which 
happened  during  the  flight  into  Egypt ;  how,  for  instance, 
lions  and  leopards  adored  the  child,  how  a  palm  bowed 
its  head  at  the  child's  command  and  supplied  its  fruit 
to  satisfy  His  mother's  need,  how  when  He  entered  an 
idol-temple  the  idols  all  fell  shattered  to  the  ground. 
The  account  of  the  boyhood  of  Jesus  is  borrowed  from 
the  Gospel  of  Thomas,  with  which  we  shall  have  to 
deal  later  on.  Pseudo- Matthew  contains  more  mythical 
stories,  probably,  than  any  other  Gospel,  and  cannot  be 
dated  earlier  than  the  fifth  century. 

3.  The  Gospel  of  the  Nativity  of  Mary  is  also  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  Protevangelium.  The  story  of 
Mary  is  told  almost  exactly  upon  the  lines  of  the 
Protevangelium,  though  of  course  Mary  now  becomes 
the  central  figure  of  the  narrative,  and  the  story  ends 
with  the  birth  of  Christ.  There  are  some  embellish- 
ments in  the  narrative,  e.g.  angelic  visitations  to  Mary 
are  of  daily  occurrence  during  her  sojourn  in  the 
Temple.  The  Gospel  of  the  Nativity  can  scarcely  be 
earlier  than  the  fifth  century.  It  had  a  wide  circulation, 
and  exercised  an  important  influence  in  mediaeval  times 
— especially  upon  art  and  theology. 

4.  The  History  of  Joseph  the  Carpenter. — This 
Gospel,  which  is  preserved  in  Arabic  and  Coptic,  relates 


GOSPELS    OF    VIRGIN    BIRTH     159 

the  story  of  the  life  of  Joseph.  The  narrative  is  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Jesus,  who  is  represented  as  telling 
it  to  the  disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  just  before 
the  Crucifixion.  The  first  part  of  the  story  follows  the 
ProtevangeHum,  but  carries  the  history  on  to  the  death 
of  Joseph,  who  was  about  ninety  years  old  when  Jesus 
was  born,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  eleven. 
Full  particulars  are  given  of  various  incidents  connected 
with  Joseph's  death,  e.g.  his  confession  of  sin  and  his 
conflict  with  devils,  the  miraculous  preservation  of  his 
body  from  corruption,  &c.  It  seems  probable  that  the 
Gospel  was  composed  in  Egypt,  possibly  in  the  fifth 
century,  to  celebrate  the  Festival  of  Joseph's  death. 

5.  Another  document  which  may  be  conveniently 
placed  under  the  class  of  Apocrypha,  though  it  does 
not  deal  specifically  with  the  Virgin  Birth,  is  the  little 
work  known  as  the  Assumption  of  Mary,  or  the 
"  Passing  of  Mary."  It  is  found  in  several  forms,  which, 
though  differing  in  details,  are  in  substantial  agreement 
with  regard  to  the  main  points  of  the  story.  Two  years 
after  the  Ascension  of  Jesus,  Mary  is  warned  that  her 
end  is  approaching.  The  Apostles  are  miraculously 
borne  on  clouds  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  witness 
her  departure.  In  the  full  sight  of  them  all,  Mary  is 
carried  up  to  heaven  without  dying.  The  document 
probably  belongs,  as  Tischendorf  thinks,  to  the  fourth 
century. 


i6o      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 


II.  THE  GOSPELS  OF  THE  BOYHOOD  OF  JESUS 

I.  The  most  important  of  the  Gospels  which  deal 
with  the  boyhood  of  Jesus  is  the  Gospel  of  Thomas, 
which  occupies  the  same  place  in  this  class  as  the 
Protevangelium  in  the  former.  We  possess  no  less  than 
four  different  recensions  of  this  book :  (a)  the  longer 
Greek,  ((^)  the  shorter  Greek,  {c)  the  Latin,  (d)  the 
Syriac.  All  these  recensions  differ  in  general  contents 
as  well  as  in  detail,  but  contain  enough  common  matter 
to  prove  that  they  were  derived  from  the  same  source. 
The  Syriac  is  not  even  ascribed  to  Thomas,  and  is 
known  simply  as  the  "Syriac  Gospel  of  the  Boyhood 
of  our  Lord  Jesus."  These  Gospels  purport  to  describe 
the  life  of  Jesus  from  His  fifth  to  His  twelfth  year. 
They  teem  with  miraculous  events.  The  boy  Jesus 
restores  the  dead  to  life,  and  also  sometimes  inflicts 
death  upon  those  who  thwart  Him.  He  makes  birds  of 
clay  and  causes  them  to  fly,  miraculously  lengthens  a 
short  piece  of  wood  to  make  it  equal  to  a  longer, 
cures  His  brother  James  when  he  had  been  bitten  by 
a  venomous  serpent,  confounds  His  teachers  by  an 
exhibition  of  prodigious  knowledge,  &c.  The  portrait 
of  Jesus  is  anything  but  majestic.  The  miracles  are 
generally  puerile  displays  of  magical  power,  and  lack 
the  ethical  motive  which  is  so  prominent  in  the  Gospels 
of  the  New  Testament.     It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the 


THE    BOYHOOD    OF    JESUS      i6i 

date  at  which  the  Gospel  of  Thomas  was  written.  We 
know  that  a  Gospel  of  Thomas  circulated  in  Gnostic 
circles  in  the  second  century.  Hippolytus  quotes  from 
a  Gospel  of  this  name  which,  he  says,  was  used  by  the 
sect  of  the  Naasenes.  Quotations  in  Irenaeus  (i8o) 
seem  to  imply  that  the  Gospel  was  in  existence  at  his 
time.  We  may  be  certain,  therefore,  that  a  Gospel  of 
Thomas  did  exist  amongst  certain  sects  between  150 
and  180.  But  we  cannot  be  sure  that  our  version  of  the 
Gospel  is  identical  with  the  Gnostic  Thomas,  for  two 
reasons  :  (i)  A  quotation  in  Hippolytus  taken  from  the 
Gnostic  Thomas  is  not  found  in  any  of  our  recensions. 
(2)  Our  Gospel  does  not  exhibit  any  traces  of  heresy. 
The  probability  therefore  is,  as  Harnack  suggests,  that  our 
Gospel  is  an  expurgated  edition  of  the  Gnostic  Thomas 
made  in  the  interests  of  Catholic  Christianity.  When,  and 
by  whom,  this  version  was  made,  cannot  be  determined. 
2.  The  only  other  Gospel  of  importance  belonging  to 
this  class  is  the  Arabic  Gospel  of  the  Infancy.  The 
author  states  that  he  derived  his  materials  from  "the  book 
of  Joseph  the  high  priest,  and  some  have  said  that  he  is 
Caiaphas."  The  contents  of  the  book  fall  into  three  parts : 
(i)  The  story  of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  which  is  derived 
from  the  Protevangelium.  (2)  The  story  of  the  flight 
into  Egypt,  which  has  much  in  common  with  Pseudo- 
Matthew.  (3)  The  story  of  the  boyhood  of  Jesus,  which 
seems  to  be  taken  from  the  Gospel  of  Thomas. 

L 


i62      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 


III.  GOSPELS  WHICH   RELATE  TO   PILATE 

A  very  large  Apocryphal  literature  has  gathered  round 
the  person  of  Pilate.  By  far  the  most  important  work 
is  the  so-called  Gospel  of  Nicodemus — a  book  which 
obtained  a  remarkable  popularity  both  in  ancient  and 
mediaeval  times.  The  title  is  comparatively  modern, 
and  is  not  found  till  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Gospel 
of  Nicodemus  contains  two  documents  of  very  different 
character  and  origin:  (i)  the  Acts  of  Pilate;  (2)  the 
Descent  of  Jesus  into  the  Underworld.  There  are 
several  different  recensions  of  both  documents  in  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Armenian.     A  Coptic  version  also  exists. 

The  first  document,  the  Acts  of  Pilate,  contains  an 
account  of  the  trial  of  Jesus  before  Pilate  and  of  the 
subsequent  action  taken  by  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin.  The 
most  important  points  in  the  narrative  are  :  (a)  The  charge 
of  illegitimacy  which  is  brought  against  Christ  by  the 
Jews  and  successfully  rebutted,  (p)  The  defence  of  Jesus 
by  Nicodemus,  who  proceeds  on  the  lines  of  Gamaliel 
in  Acts  V.  (c)  The  witness  in  favour  of  Christ  by  those 
whom  He  had  healed,  (d)  The  action  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,  and  the  persecution  which  he  received  from 
the  priests,  (e)  The  testimony  to  the  Ascension  of  Jesus 
by  the  three  men  of  Galilee. 

There  is  a  keen  controversy  amongst  scholars  as  to 
the  date  at  which  the  Acts  of  Pilate  was  written.     There 


GOSPELS    ABOUT    PILATE       163 

are  some  who,  like  Tischendorf,  suppose  that  it  was 
written  very  early  in  the  second  century,  and  hold  that 
it  is  therefore  a  very  valuable  document,  containing 
genuine  traditions,  which  may  be  used  to  expand  the 
account  of  the  Crucifixion  in  the  Gospels.  Others  think 
that  the  book  belongs  to  the  fourth  or  even  fifth  century, 
and  is  a  worthless  compilation.  The  arguments  in 
favour  of  the  latter  view,  which  has  the  support  of 
Harnack,  are  :  (i)  Eusebius  never  mentions  a  Christian 
Gospel  of  Pilate,  though  he  gives  an  account  of  a  pagan 
Acts  of  Pilate,  which  was  used  in  public  schools 
to  throw  derision  upon  Christianity.  (2)  The  allusions 
to  Acts  of  Pilate  in  Justin  and  Tertullian,  which  are 
the  basis  on  which  the  theory  of  an  early  date  rests, 
are  inconclusive.  It  is  true  that  Tertullian  does  quote 
some  document  relating  to  Pilate,  but  there  is  no  proof 
that  this  document  is  identical  with  the  Gospel  of  Nico- 
demus.  On  the  contrary,  Harnack  argues  with  much 
acumen  that  the  statements  of  TertulUan  were  used  by 
the  author  of  Nicodemus  as  one  of  his  sources.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Rendel  Harris  has  recently 
ingeniously  championed  the  theory  of  an  early  date, 
the  case  for  the  genuineness  of  the  Gospel  cannot  be 
made  out.  The  probability  is  that  the  Gospel  was 
composed  as  a  Christian  reply  to  the  heathen  Acts  of 
Pilate  mentioned  by  Eusebius. 

The  second  document  of  the  Gospel  deals  with  the 


i64      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

descent  of  Christ  into  Hell.  Two  young  men,  Charinus 
and  Leucius,  who  had  been  raised  from  the  dead, 
describe  the  visit  of  Christ  to  Hades.  They  recount 
how  suddenly  a  great  light  filled  the  underworld,  how 
the  Lord  appeared  in  glory  and,  amid  the  songs  of  the 
redeemed,  set  up  the  Cross  as  the  symbol  of  His  triumph. 
The  document  is  interesting  because  it  expands  and 
develops  the  statements  in  our  First  Epistle  of  Peter  and 
the  Apocryphal  Gospel  of  Peter.  The  account,  of  course, 
is  purely  imaginary,  and  its  sole  value  consists  in  the 
fact  that  it  illustrates  the  position  which  this  article  of 
the  Creed  had  obtained  in  the  fourth  century. 

There  are  five  other  minor  documents  dealing  with 
Pilate,  some  of  which  are  appended  to  the  Gospel  of 
Nicodemus  in  some  MSS.,  viz.  the  Letter  of  Pilate  to  the 
Emperor  Tiberius  ;  the  Report  of  Pilate,  which  purports 
to  be  Pilate's  official  report  of  the  Crucifixion  of  Christ 
to  the  Emperor  ;  the  Paradoses  of  Pilate  and  the  Death 
of  Pilate,  which  give  an  account  of  Pilate's  death ;  the 
Narrative  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  which  describes  the 
part  played  by  Joseph  in  the  Crucifixion.  All  these 
are  late  fabrications,  and  have  no  claim  to  receive  con- 
sideration from  a  historical  point  of  view. 


CHAPTER   XV 

APOCRYPHAL   ACTS,    EPISTLES,    ETC. 

APOCRYPHAL  ACTS 

More  than  a  dozen  different  xA^pocryphal  Acts  have 
been  preserved,  of  varying  date  and  value.  They  all 
attempt  to  supplement  our  canonical  Acts  by  giving 
*an  account  of  the  lives  and  works  of  the  Apostles. 
Amongst  these  Apocryphal  books,  the  following  are  the 
most  important : — 

The  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thecla. — This  book  records  an 
interesting  episode  in  connection  with  Paul's  visit  to 
Iconium  (Acts  xiv.  1-7).  Stripped  of  its  mythical 
elements,  the  story  is  as  follows.  During  his  stay  at 
Iconium,  Paul  lived  in  the  house  of  Onesiphorus.  In 
an  adjoining  mansion  there  resided  a  noble  Iconian 
lady,  named  Thecla,  who  from  her  chamber  often 
listened  to  Paul's  preaching.  She  was  fascinated  by  his 
message  and  became  a  Christian.  This  so  enraged  the 
members  of  her  family  and  her  affianced  husband, 
Thamyris,  that  they  induced  the  magistrates  to  cast 
Paul  into  prison.     Thecla  visited  Paul  in  prison  secretly, 

165 


i66      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

and  when  this  was  discovered,  the  Apostle  was  hurriedly 
expelled  from  the  city.  Thecla,  however,  resisted  all  the 
attempts  which  were  made  to  induce  her  to  renounce 
her  Christian  faith,  and  finally  fled  to  Antioch,  where  she 
was  arrested  and  condemned,  on  the  charge  of  having 
insulted  a  pagan  priest.  She  had  a  marvellous  escape 
from  the  wild  beasts  in  the  amphitheatre,  which  refused 
to  touch  her,  and  was  afterwards  released.  She  subse- 
quently lived  under  the  protection  of  Queen  Tryphaena, 
whom  she  was  the  means  of  converting  to  Christianity. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  Acts  of 
Thecla  was  written  at  a  comparatively  early  date. 
Tertullian  (a.d.  200)  states  that  a  presbyter  of  Asia  had 
confessed  to  the  authorship  of  the  book,  pleading  that 
he  had  written  it  through  his  love  to  Paul.  The  book 
could  scarcely,  therefore,  be  later  than  170,  and  this  is 
the  date  at  which  Harnack  puts  it.  Sir  W.  Ramsay 
holds  that,  though  in  its  present  form  the  book  belongs 
to  130-160,  yet  the  present  version  shows  signs  of  being 
based  upon  an  earlier  document,  w^hich  originated  in 
the  first  century.  He  accordingly  regards  it  as  con- 
taining a  genuine  tradition,  and  thinks  that  some  such 
incident  actually  occurred.  Harnack,  however,  argues 
that  the  case  for  the  existence  of  an  earlier  document  has 
not  been  made  out,  and  maintains  that  the  Acts  of  Thecla 
contains  "  a  great  deal  of  fiction  and  very  little  truth." 

The  Acts  of  Thomas. — Next  in   importance  to  the 


APOCRYPHAL    ACTS  167 

Acts  of  Thecla  comes  the  Acts  of  Thomas.  This  is 
a  specially  interesting  book,  because  it  bears  upon  its 
face  the  stamp  of  Gnostic  influence.  We  shall  not  be 
far  wrong  if  we  describe  it  as  a  religious  novel,  with 
the  Apostle  Thomas  for  its  hero,  written  in  support  of 
the  doctrine  of  celibacy.  According  to  the  story  of  the 
book,  when  the  world  was  parcelled  out  among  the 
Apostles,  India  fell  by  lot  to  Thomas.  He  at  first 
refused  to  go,  and  it  was  only  when  the  Lord  appeared 
to  him  and  sold  him  as  a  slave  to  an  Indian  merchant, 
who  was  looking  out  for  a  carpenter,  that  he  consented 
to  undertake  the  mission.  The  most  interesting 
incident  in  the  book  is  the  following.  When  Thomas 
arrived  in  India,  he  was  commissioned  by  King 
Gundaphorus  to  erect  a  royal  palace.  He  at  once 
consented  to  undertake  the  contract,  but  instead  of 
building  a  palace  spent  the  king's  money  in  relieving 
the  wants  of  the  poor.  When  the  king  returned  and 
found  no  palace,  he  was  exceedingly  angry,  and  ordered 
Thomas  to  be  arrested.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  the 
king's  brother  Gad  died  about  this  time.  After  death, 
upon  arriving  in  heaven,  he  saw  a  beautiful  palace,  and 
asked  permission  to  make  it  his  home.  He  was  told, 
however,  that  the  palace  had  been  built  by  Thomas  for 
King  Gundaphorus.  Gad  thereupon  returned  to  earth, 
and,  appearing  to  his  brother,  endeavoured  to  purchase 
the  heavenly  palace  from  him.     This  opened  the  eyes 


i68      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

of  Gundaphorus,  and  led  to  his  conversion.  The  other 
stories  in  the  book  are  all  written  to  support  the  view  that 
marriage  is  sinful,  and  celibacy  the  only  right  mode  of 
life.  Thomas's  preaching  finally  resulted  in  his  martyr- 
dom. He  converted  the  wife  of  the  chief  minister,  who 
refused  to  live  any  longer  with  her  husband.  The 
minister  complained  to  the  king,  and  he  ordered  his 
soldiers  to  put  Thomas  to  death.  The  date  of  the  Acts 
of  Thomas  is  difficult  to  fix.  The  book  is  first  mentioned 
by  Eusebius,  who  denounces  its  heretical  character. 
Our  present  version  is  possibly  a  purified  version  of  the 
original  Gnostic  edition,  made  for  the  benefit  of 
Catholic  Christians.  The  majority  of  modern  scholars, 
including  Harnack,  hold  that  it  was  not  composed  till 
after  the  commencement  of  the  third  century. 

The  Acts  of  Andrew. — There  are  several  documents 
which  deal  with  the  history  of  the  Apostle  Andrew,  viz. 
the  Acts  of  Andrew,  the  Acts  of  Andrew  and  Matthias, 
the  Acts  of  Peter  and  Andrew.  The  most  important 
incidents  related  in  these  documents  are  :  (i)  The  story 
of  Andrew's  rescue  of  Matthew  from  the  island,  of  the 
cannibals.  The  narrative  abounds  in  impossible  and 
fantastic  romances.  Andrew  receives  orders  from  God 
to  go  to  Matthew's  help.  When  he  reaches  the  coast 
he  finds  a  boat,  with  Jesus  at  the  helm  under  the  guise 
of  a  steersman,  and  manned  by  angels  under  the  form 
of  sailors.     Upon  arriving  at  the  island,  he  miraculously 


APOCRYPHAL    ACTS  169 

enters  the  prison.  The  warders  fall  dead  when  he 
breathes  upon  them,  and  Matthew  is  released.  The 
most  amazing  scenes  follow.  A  statue  belches  forth 
acrid  water,  which  destroys  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city.  They  are  restored  to  life  by  Andrew's  intervention, 
and  eagerly  embrace  Christianity.  (2)  The  story  of 
Andrew's  martyrdom  at  Patara  in  Achaia.  The  bulk  of 
the  narrative  is  taken  up  with  a  discussion  between 
Andrew  and  the  proconsul  ^geates.  After  a  long 
argument,  ^geates,  unable  to  answer  Andrew,  orders 
him  to  be  executed.  The  account  of  the  crucifixion 
is  full  of  marvels.  Andrew  hung  upon  the  cross  for 
three  days  and  three  nights,  entrancing  the  crowd  with 
his  eloquence.  The  crowd,  astonished  at  the  miracle, 
begged  that  his  life  might  be  spared,  but  Andrew  prayed 
that  God  might  not  allow  him  to  be  released.  His 
prayer  was  answered,  and  he  was  suffered  to  die. 
Tradition  ascribes  the  Acts  to  Leucius,  who  is  supposed 
to  have  been  a  disciple  of  John  the  Apostle.  Innocent 
I.  (d.  417)  says  that  it  was  written  by  the  philosophers 
Nexocharis  and  Leonidas.  The  book  is  first  mentioned 
by  Eusebius,  and  we  know  from  later  references  that  it  cir- 
culated at  first  amongst  heretical  sects.  Our  present  frag- 
ments, however,  contain  no  traces  of  heretical  influence, 
and  so  probably  represent  a  purified  edition  made  for 
the  use  of  ordinary  Christians.  The  date  can  scarcely 
be  earlier  than  the  third  century. 


lyo      THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

The  Acts  of  Jolm  describes :  {a)  The  appearance  of 
John  before  the  Emperor  Domitian  in  Rome.  Domitian 
was  anxious  to  stamp  out  Christianity.  Information 
was  given  him  that  John  was  the  champion  of  Christianity 
in  Asia.  Accordingly  he  at  once  sent  soldiers  to  arrest 
him  and  bring  him  to  Rome.  John  made  a  great 
impression  upon  the  emperor,  and  by  drinking  a  cup 
of  poison  without  any  ill  effect  convinced  him  that  the 
new  religion  was  not  altogether  a  superstitious  fancy. 
Unwilling,  however,  to  revoke  his  edict  against  the 
Christians,  Domitian  ordered  John  to  be  imprisoned 
in  the  isle  of  Patmos.  {b)  The  death  of  John.  Towards 
the  end  of  his  life  John  called  his  disciples  around  him 
and  bade  them  farewell,  exhorting  them  in  many  speeches 
to  remain  loyal  to  the  faith.  Then  he  ordered  a  grave 
to  be  dug,  threw  in  his  clothes,  and  entered  it  alive. 
Next  day  his  disciples  found  no  trace  of  the  Apostle,  but 
there  was  a  fountain  where  the  grave  had  been. 

The  book  is  associated  in  tradition  with  the  name  of 
Leucius.  The  stress  which  it  lays  upon  celibacy  and 
abstinence  from  meats  shows  that  it  emanated  from 
heretical  sects.  Whether  it  belongs  to  the  second  or 
the  third  century  cannot  be  determined.  There  is  a  com- 
parative freedom  from  romantic  and  fantastic  elements 
about  the  book. 

The  Acts  of  Philip,  which  appears  in  several  forms, 
describes  :  {a)  The  work  of  Philip  at  Athens.    Philip  meets 


APOCRYPHAL    ACTS 


three  hundred  philosophers  at  Athens  and  expounds  to 
them  his  doctrine.  They  ask  for  time  to  consider  his 
arguments,  and  write  to  the  high  priest  Ananias  at 
Jerusalem  asking  him  for  information  about  Philip. 
Ananias  determines  to  hurry  to  Athens  at  once,  and  con- 
front Philip  before  the  Athenians.  The  book  recounts 
the  story  of  the  meeting  of  Philip  and  Ananias  and  the 
utter  discomfiture  of  the  latter.  The  Athenian  philo- 
sophers are  converted  and  accept  the  Christian  faith. 
ip)  The  martyrdom  of  Philip  at  Hierapolis.  Philip  came 
to  Hierapolis  in  company  with  his  sister  Mariamne  and 
Bartholomew,  one  of  the  seventy.  Through  the  influence 
of  Mariamne,  Nicanora  the  wife  of  the  proconsul  was 
converted.  This  so  infuriated  "  the  gloomy  tyrant,  her 
husband,"  that  he  at  once  ordered  the  arrest  and  execu- 
tion of  the  missionaries.  Philip  was  crucified  head 
downwards,  and  the  other  two  were  subjected  to  the 
most  shameful  indignities.  Philip,  in  the  agony  of  his 
suffering,  imprecated  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  the  city. 
In  response  to  his  prayer,  the  abyss  opened  and  swallowed 
up  the  persecutors.  The  Lord,  however,  appeared  to 
him  and  reproached  him  for  this  act  of  vengeance,  and 
told  him  that,  because  of  it,  he  was  doomed  to  die 
and  spend  forty  days  in  the  anguish  of  hell  before 
entering  heaven.  The  Acts  of  Philip  can  only  be  de- 
scribed as  a  religious  novel  of  Gnostic  origin.  There  is  no 
evidence  to  prove  that  it  belongs  to  the  second  century. 


172     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

The  Acts  of  Peter  and  Paul. — A  whole  Apocryphal 
literature  naturally  clustered  round  the  names  of  Peter 
and  Paul.  The  Acts  of  Paul  has  unfortunately  been 
lost,  but  the  Acts  of  Peter  and  the  Acts  of  Peter  and 
Paul  have  been  preserved  for  us,  as  well  as  some  other 
documents  of  minor  importance.  The  Acts  of  Peter 
and  Paul  are  best  known  and  most  accessible  to  the 
ordinary  reader  since  they  appear  in  most  collections  of 
Apocryphal  literature.  The  story  is  as  follows  :  The 
Emperor  Nero  is  warned  by  the  Jews  that  Paul  is 
coming  to  Rome,  and  issues  an  edict  ordering  the 
governors  of  any  city  to  which  he  may  come  to  arrest 
him  and  put  him  to  death.  At  Puteoli,  Dioscurus,  the 
captain  of  the  ship,  is  mistaken  for  Paul,  and  put  to 
death.  Paul  is  thus  enabled  to  reach  Rome  in  safety. 
The  Jews  urge  him  to  champion  their  religion  and 
confute  Peter,  who  is  seeking  to  destroy  the  Mosaic 
Law.  Paul  promises  them  to  put  Peter  to  the  test.  The 
two  men  meet  in  the  most  amicable  spirit,  and  find  that 
their  views  are  in  exact  agreement.  Paul  is  successful 
in  healing  the  feud  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christians  of  Rome.  Then  follows  an  account  of  the 
contest  between  the  Apostles  and  Simon  Magus  in  the 
presence  of  Nero.  Simon  performs  many  feats  of  witch- 
craft, and  the  Apostles  work  miracles  of  heaHng.  Peter 
challenges  Simon  to  a  contest  of  thought-reading,  which 
the   latter   declines.      After    several   lonsr   debates   and 


APOCRYPHAL    ACTS 


many  rival  exhibitions  of  skill,  Simon  undertakes  to  fly 
through  the  air.  In  the  midst  of  his  flight,  the  super- 
natural support  which  enabled  him  to  achieve  his  success 
is  withdrawn,  owing  to  the  prayers  of  the  Apostles,  and 
Simon  falls  to  the  ground  and  perishes.  Nero  orders 
the  Apostles  to  be  put  into  irons,  and  finally  sentences 
Paul  to  be  beheaded  and  Peter  to  be  crucified.  The 
Acts  of  Peter  tell  practically  the  same  story,  with  the 
exception  of  the  important  fact  that  they  contain  no 
reference  to  the  presence  of  Paul  in  Rome.  The 
majority  of  scholars  seem  to  be  agreed  that  the 
Petrine  Acts  are  the  earlier  version  of  the  legend. 
Nothing  can  be  definitely  determined  with  regard  to  the 
date  at  which  these  works  were  written.  Harnack  puts 
the  Acts  of  Peter  about  220.  The  Dutch  scholar  Van 
Manen  thinks  that  both  versions  originated  almost 
simultaneously  in  difi'erent  circles  of  the  Church  about 
160.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  contents  of  the 
books  are  mainly  fiction.  They  may  contain  some 
germs  of  fact,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  disconnect 
the  fact  from  the  fiction.  They  bear  witness  to  the  fact, 
however,  that  there  was  a  strong  tradition  in  the  Church 
to  the  effect  that  both  Peter  and  Paul  were  martyred  in 
Rome. 


174     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

APOCRYPHAL   EPISTLES 

The  Correspondence  between  Jesus  and  Abgarns. — 

Eusebius  tells  us  that  he  discovered  in  the  archives  of 
Edessa  two  Epistles,  one  written  by  Abgarus  to  Jesus, 
and  the  other  containing  the  reply  of  Jesus.  These 
letters  were  in  Syriac,  and  Eusebius  translated  them  into 
Greek.  The  contents  are  as  follows :  Abgarus,  King 
of  Edessa,  being  smitten  with  a  grievous  disease,  and 
having  heard  of  the  miracles  wrought  by  Jesus  in  Pales- 
tine, asks  Him  to  come  to  Edessa  and  heal  him,  saying 
that  he  was  convinced  that  Jesus  was  either  God  come 
down  from  heaven  or  the  Son  of  God.  Jesus  replies, 
"  Blessed  art  thou,  O  Abgarus,  who  without  seeing  hast 
believed  in  me,"  but  states  that  it  is  impossible  to  comply 
with  the  request  because  it  is  necessary  for  Him  to  fulfil 
the  mission  for  which  He  had  been  sent  into  the  world. 
After  his  death,  however,  He  promises  to  send  one  of 
His  disciples  to  cure  Abgarus.  The  book  from  which 
Eusebius  probably  extracted  these  letters  is  still  extant 
in  Syriac.  It  is  known  as  the  Teaching  of  Addai,  and 
was  edited  with  an  English  translation  by  Dr.  Phillips 
in  1S76.  It  contains  a  great  deal  of  material  which 
Eusebius  does  not  use,  and  which  possibly  may  be  a 
later  addendum  to  the  original  work.  It  relates  how  the 
promise  given  by  Jesus  was  fulfilled  by  the  mission  of 


APOCRYPHAL    EPISTLES        175 

the  Apostle  Addai,  who  was  sent  by  Thomas  to  heal 
Abgarus  and  preach  the  Gospel  in  Edessa.  We  have 
also  a  Greek  version  of  the  story,  known  as  the  Acts  of 
Thaddaeus.  There  seems  to  be  no  possibility  of  doubt 
that  the  correspondence  is  fictitious.  The  first  trace 
of  Christianity  in  Edessa  is  not  found  till  about  a.d. 
200.  The  letters  were  probably  forged  in  the  third 
century  by  an  Edessan  Christian  who  was  anxious  to 
bring  the  origin  of  his  Church  into  relationship  with 
Christ. 

The  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Laodiceans. — In  his  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians  (iv.  t6)  Paul  writes,  "And  when  this 
Epistle  hath  been  read  among  you,  cause  that  it  be  read 
also  in  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans  and  that  ye  also 
read  the  Epistle  from  Laodicea."  A  letter  is  in  existence 
which  purports  to  be  this  "  letter  from  Laodicea  "  men- 
tioned by  Paul.  It  is  found  only  in  a  Latin  form  (see 
Lightfoot's  "  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,"  p.  285),  but  inter- 
nal evidence  proves  that  it  was  originally  written  in  Greek. 
"The  Epistle,"  to  quote  the  words  of  Lightfoot,  "is  a 
cento  of  Pauline  phrases  strung  together  without  any 
definite  connection  or  any  clear  object.  .  .  ."  "  The 
Apostle's  injunction  in  Col.  iv.  16  suggested  the  forgery, 
and  such  currency  as  it  ever  attained  was  due  to  the 
support  which  that  passage  was  supposed  to  give  to  it. 
Unlike  most  forgeries,  it  had  no  ulterior  aim.     It  was 


176     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

not  framed  to  advance  any  particular  opinions,  whether 
heterodox  or  orthodox.  It  has  no  doctrinal  peculiarities. 
Thus  it  is  quite  harmless,  so  far  as  falsity  and  stupidity 
combined  can  ever  be  regarded  as  harmless." 

The  Correspondence  between  Paul  and  Seneca. — 
Fourteen  letters  are  in  existence,  six  of  which  claim  to 
have  been  written  by  Paul  to  Seneca,  and  the  remaining 
eight  by  Seneca  to  Paul.  The  contents  of  these  letters 
are  very  flimsy  and  uninteresting.  They  consist  mainly 
of  an  interchange  of  compliments  between  the  Apostle 
and  the  philosopher,  and  relate  to  an  attempt  which 
Seneca  is  supposed  to  be  making  to  secure  the  interest 
of  Nero  in  the  writings  of  Paul.  The  letters  carry  their 
condemnation  on  their  face.  As  Lightfoot  says,  "  the 
letters  are  inane  and  unworthy  throughout :  the  style  of 
either  correspondent  is  unlike  his  genuine  writings  :  the 
relations  between  the  two,  as  there  represented,  are 
highly  improbable :  and  lastly  the  chronological  notices 
(which,  however,  are  absent  in  some  important  MSS.) 
are  wrong  in  almost  in  every  instance."  The  correspond- 
ence is  obviously  a  forgery,  dating  probably  from  the 
fourth  century,  the  object  of  it  being  either  "  to  recom- 
mend Seneca  to  Christian  readers  or  to  recommend 
Christianity  to  students  of  Seneca." 


APOCRYPHAL    APOCALYPSES     177 


APOCRYPHAL  APOCALYPSES 

The  Apocalypse  of  Peter. — The  oldest  of  the  Apocry- 
phal Apocalypses  is  undoubtedly  that  ascribed  to  Peter. 
A  large  fragment  of  it,  containing  probably  about  half  the 
original  book,  has  recently  been  discovered  at  Akmim 
(Pentapolis),  together  with  the  fragment  of  the  Gospel 
of  Peter.  The  Apocalypse  enjoyed  a  great  popularity  in 
the  early  Church.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Muratorian 
Fragment  (about  a.d.  170),  was  quoted  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria  (a.d.  200),  and,  as  we  know  from  the  state- 
ment of  the  historian  Sozomen,  even  as  late  as  the  fifth 
century,  though  it  had  been  definitely  rejected  by  Eusebius 
and  other  writers,  was  publicly  read  once  a  year  in  certain 
churches  of  Palestine.  The  Apocalypse  has  very  little 
in  common  with  the  canonical  Book  of  Revelation.  The 
subject,  which  forms  its  theme,  is  the  condition  of  the 
dead.  The  disciples  are  represented  as  coming  to  the 
Lord  and  asking  Him  to  show  them  "  one  of  the  righteous 
brethren  that  had  departed  from  the  world,  that  they 
might  see  of  what  form  they  were  and  take  courage." 
The  fragment  is  made  up  of  two  visions :  (a)  the  vision 
of  the  saints  in  Paradise,  (i^)  the  vision  of  Inferno.  The 
first  vision  depicts  the  saints  thus  :  "Their  bodies  were 
whiter  than  snow  and  redder  than  the  rose,  and  the  red 
was  mingled  with  the  white  :  there  came  forth  from  their 
countenance  a  ray  as  of  the  sun,  and  all  their  raiment 

M 


178     THE    APOCRYPHAL    BOOKS 

was  light  such  as  never  eye  of  man  beheld."  Paradise 
is  described  as  a  land  "  blooming  with  unfading  flowers 
and  full  of  spices  and  fair-flowering  plants  incorruptible 
and  bearing  a  blessed  fruit."  It  is,  however,  to  the  picture 
of  Inferno  that  the  Apocalypse  devotes  most  space. 
The  place  of  chastisement  is  described  as  "  very  squalid." 
It  contained  a  lake  of  "  flaming  mire  "  and  many  other 
loathful  places.  Punishment  is  meted  out  to  various 
types  of  sinners  in  different  ways.  Blasphemers,  for 
instance,  are  described  as  hanging  by  their  tongues  over 
a  flaming  fire.  Murderers  were  cast  into  a  "  narrow  place 
full  of  evil  reptiles."  The  selfish  rich  were  rolled  in 
torment  upon  red-hot  pebbles  sharper  than  any  sword. 
Usurers  were  compelled  to  wallow  up  to  the  knees  in  "a 
lake  of  pitch  and  blood  and  boiling  mire."  The  sensual 
were  hurled  from  the  top  of  a  cliff  into  a  deep  abyss,  and 
forced  to  reascend  continually  that  the  process  might  be 
repeated.  The  influence  exerted  by  the  Apocalypse  can 
scarcely  be  overestimated.  Its  ideas  reappear  in  other 
writings,  ^.^.  the  Apocalypses  of  Paul,  the  Sibylline  Oracles, 
&c.,  and  through  these  and  other  writings  influenced 
mediaeval  theology,  and  were  thus  the  source  from 
"vvhich  Dante's  picture  of  the  Inferno  was  derived.  The 
Apocalypse  must  have  been  of  comparativelv  early  origin. 
It  can  scarcely  be  later  than  a.d.  150,  and  may  be  even 
earlier. 

The  Apocalypse  of  Paul  is  a  weak  imitation  of  the 


APOCRYPHAL  APOCALYPSES  179 

Apocalypse  of  Peter.  It  deals  with  the  same  theme,  and 
gives  a  description  of  heaven  and  hell.  It  belongs, 
however,  to  a  much  later  date,  as  the  following  passage 
shows  :  The  angel,  when  asked  what  certain  prisoners 
had  done,  who  had  been  cast  into  a  deep  well  in 
Inferno,  replies,  "  These  are  they  that  denied  that  the 
Holy  Mary  is  the  Mother  of  God  and  said  that  the 
Lord  did  not  become  man  out  of  her,  and  that  the 
bread  of  thanksgiving  and  cup  of  blessing  are  not  His 
flesh  and  blood."  This  statement  is  a  clear  proof  that 
the  Apocalypse  could  not  have  been  written  before  the 
end  of  the  fourth  or  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century. 


INDEX 


Abgarus,  174 

Achiacharus,  51 

Acts,  Apocryphal,  123,  165-173 

Adam,  66,  75,  85 

Ahikar,  51 

Allegorical     interpretation,     135, 

136 
Almsgiving,  35,  49 
Andrew,  Acts  of,  168 
Angels,  50,  94,  98 
Angels,  fall  of,  75 
Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  81-85 
Apocalypse  of  Peter,  177 
Apocalypses,     New     Testament, 

177-179 
Apocalyptic  literature — 

importance,  72 

contents,  69 

meaning  cf,  70 

origin,  71 
Apocrypha  proper — 

value  of,  1-6 

contents,  7 

character,  8 

origin,  9 

rejection,  11 
Apocrypha,  wider,  69-73 
Apocrypha  (New  Test.) — 

character,  121 

origin,  121 

contents,  122 

value,  124 
Arabic  Gospel,  161 
Ascension  of  Isaiah,  94-99 
Assumption  of  Mary,  159 


180 


Assumption  of  Moses,  85-88 
Azarias,  prayer  of,  55 

Baptism,  133 

Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  134-137 
Baruch,  Apocalypse  of,  81-85 
Baruch,  Book  of,  58-62,  65 
Bel  and  Dragon,  54 

Canon  (Old  Test.),  9-11 

(New  Test.),  120-122 
"  Christ,"  "jj,  119 
Clement,  Epistle  of,  126-130 

Daniel,  additions  to,  52-55 
Demons,  50,  75,  94 
Didache,  130-134 
Doketism,  99,  124,  145-147 
Dualism,  43 

Ebionites,  Gospel  of,  148 

Ecclesiasticus,  31-38 

Egyptians,  Gospel  of,  149-151 

Enoch,  Book  of,  74-78 

Enoch,  Secrets  of,  78-81 

Epicureanism,  39 

Epistles,  Apocryphal,  174 

Esdras  I.,  24-29 

Esdras  II.,  62-67 

Esther,  rest  of,  56 

Ethics,  34,  36,  39,  103,  112,  132, 

140 
Evil,  problem  of,  65,  71,  75,  82 
Ezra  IV.,  see  Esdras  II. 


INDEX 


i8i 


Faith,  6j 
Fall,  the,  43,  66-85 
Fasting,  46,  50 
Forgiveness,  103 
Future  Life,  19,   23,   35, 
67,  76,  99,  118 


37.   43. 


Genesis,  89,  90 
Gentiles,  62,  104 
Gospels,  Apocryphal,  chaps,  xiii. , 

xiv. 
Gospel  of  Ebionites,  148 
•  »         Egyptians,  149 
,,         Hebrews,  141-145 
James,  154-157 
Nativity,  158 
;,         Nicodemus,  162 
,,  Peter,  145-148 

,,         Pseudo-Matthew,  157 
,,         Thomas,  i6o 

Hades,  descent  into,  164 
Heavens,  doctrine  of  the,  79,  98 
Hebrews,  Gcspel  of,  141-145 
Hedonism,  39 
Hellenism,  36,  43,  113,  114 
Heretical  Gospels,  123,  145-151 
Hermas,  138-140 
Holy  Spirit,  42,  98 
Hyrcanus,  17,  102 

Idolatry,  39,  55,  68 
Infancy,  Gcspel  of,  t6i 
Isaiah,  Ascension  of,  94-99 

James,  Gcspel  of,  155-157 
Jason,  24 

Jeremy,  Epistle  of,  68 
Jesus,  Sayings  of,  151-154 
John,  Acts  of,  170 
Joseph,  History  of,  158 
Josephus,  26,  27 


Jubilees,  Book  of,  89-94 
Judith,  44-47 

Laodicea,  Epistle  to,  175 
Law,  the,  46,  49,  62,  91,  92,  94, 

118 
Leontopolis,  21 
Leucius,  169 
Logia,  123,  151-154 
Luther,  47,  51 

Maccabees  I.,  14-19 
,,  II.,  20-24 

III.,  105-109 
,,         IV.,  110-115 
Manasseh,  Prayer  of,  57 
Mary,  Nativity  of,  158 

,,       Assumption  of,  159 
Mastema,  94 
Merit,  doctrine  of,  85 
Messiah,    19,  67,  76,  77,  78,   83, 

95,  96,  98,  118 
Millennium,  71,  75,  80 
Moses,  Assumption  of,  85-88 

New  Testament — 
Canon,  120-122 
influence  of  Apocrypha,  3,  5, 
43,  7-],    80,  84,  87,  93,  98, 
102,  114,  118 
Nicodemus,  Gospel  of,  162 

Old  Testament — 
Canon, 9-1 i 
interpretation,  135 

Paradise,  178 

Patriarchs,  Testaments  of,  99-104 

Paul,  Apocalypse  of,  177 

Paul,  Acts  of,  172 

Paul  and  Apocrypha,  5,  42,  43, 

80,  84,  93,  99,  102,  103,  114 
Paulinism,  129,  140 


l82 


INDEX 


Peter,  Acts  of,  172 

,,      Apocalypse  of,  177 
,,      Gospel  of,  145-148 

Pharisees,  23,  53,  ^6,  91,  117 

Philip,  Acts  of,  170 

Philo,  40 

Pilate  Documents,  162-164 

Pre-existence,  42 

,,         of  Messiah,  78 

Prayers  for  dead,  67 

Propitiation,  35,  115 

Protevangelium,  155-157 

Providence,  109 

Psalms  of  Solomon,  116-119 

Pseudo-Matthew,  157 

Quietism,  86,  113 

Resurrection,   84    {see  Future 
Life) 

Sadducees,  17,  117 

Sayings  of  Jesus,  151-154 

Seneca,  176 

Septuagint,  9,  41 

Shepherd  of  Hermas,  138-140 

Sin,  original,  43,  66,  75,  76,  85 

Sirach,  see  Ecclesiasticus 


Slavonic  Enoch,  78-81 
Solomon,  Psalms  of,  116-119 
Song  of  Three  Children,  55 
Stoics,  log,  112-115 
Susanna,  52 

Teaching  of  Apostles,  130-134 
Temple,  the,  28,  46,  52 
Testaments  of  Patriarchs,  99-104 
Thecla,  Acts  of,  165 
Thomas,  Acts  of,  166 
Thomas,  Gospel  of,  160 
Tobit,  47-51 
Trinity,  42,  96 

Universalism,  104 
Utilitarianism,  36,  39 

Vegetarianism,  148 
Virgin  Birth,  96,  155-159 
Vulgate,  8 

Wisdom,  35,  42,  59 
Wisdom,  Book  cf,  42-59 
Wisdom  literature,  30,  59 
Works,  67,  85 

Zealots,  86,  87 


Printed  by  Ballantvne,  Hanson  &*  Co. 
Edinburgh  6^  London 


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